Plastidobe is a modular house construction system which consists of ribbed plastic plaques that hold earth in a trapezoidal shape to generate the structure for the walls.
Each module consists of 4 plastic plaques gathered by pressure on the corners via a male-female system. Recycled plastic is used to assemble this box that creates the solid earth trapezoidal blocks, which after being piled along the main stainless steel structure, also serves as plant pot for an alfalfa plant to grow, which creates a natural structural reinforcement. The ceiling is made out of galvanized metal which is shiny and has a wavy structure, but it is later covered with pasture by the user of the house, which, according to the pictures, is used in a rural location. The color is kind of ambiguous but it shows a cream color probably because of the result of the combined plastic colors in the making of the prime material of this object. (After dirt.)
Even though the structural base of this modular home is made out of stainless still, it is what goes around it what excites me and intrigues me the most. The modules that make up this house make it what I would call a “bio-structure” because it’s using a plant for resistance along an eco-friendly material that is not used very often in architecture which is simple dirt. The questions that arise in my mind are the possibilities of taking this concept of using dirt to make walls resistant and how much more can we keep innovating on making structures that take advantage of living plants. What comes after the tree house? I think this object could teach us a lot about designing for social impact, since this is thought for rural homes of people with poor living conditions, eco friendly design , because it uses a material not very often thought of which is dirt, a plant for structure and recycled plastic and also about architectural structures that their conceptions go beyond engineering, but because of creativity and biology of using earth, a plant and a trapezoidal wall instead of 90 degree typical one.
