Keeping Afloat

Speculative Environments

Supervisor - Mr. Teh Joo Heng

High costs and lack of housing push the low-income residents of Yangon to settle informally at the fringes of the city in flood-prone areas with no public infrastructure. This thesis investigates the 555 settlement on the outskirts of Hlaing Tharyar township and the remarkable resilience and resourcefulness of this self-organized community. While flooding has provided the opportunity of vacant land, it also poses a threat to the community’s sustained livelihood. Recognizing this, the thesis proposes a selfbuilt amphibious housing system conceived as a kit-of parts. It realizes an incremental, modular and low-cost solution to enable the community to keep afloat in the face of unfavourable circumstances.