Conference Agenda

Bamboo (Guadua Angustifolia) has been used as a construction material due to its physical and mechanical properties. The species has been found in the north-central area of the country, in controlled plantations at the Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School and in the Lancetilla Botanical Garden, therefore, this work has been carried out with the objective of proposing the cultivation of this species of bamboo in favorable areas of the country, to use it in building enclosures, specifically for walls and roofs.
To mechanically characterize this species of bamboo, the compressive and flexural strength (psi) has been calculated from laboratory tests and statistics have been used to define a linear equation for this purpose, so that the expected resistance (dependent variable), through independent variables, such as the contact area (in²), height (inches), density (pounds/in³) and thickness/thickness (in), of the bamboo samples obtained from the “Cerro Juana Laínez” Park, Tegucigalpa, MDC. And finally, by comparing the results obtained in this research with the resistance generated in other studies, it has been possible to verify that bamboo could be a viable alternative to execute certain construction systems in buildings, such as enclosures and covers, but always under the recommendation to carry out more studies on the mechanical behavior of bamboo.

The present research has consisted of implementing the use of ferrocement as a construction material for low-income housing, substituting block walls and reinforced concrete elements for a ferrocement structure. The budget has been compared between a conventional house and a house with ferrocement walls, to which the study of the analysis of the structural performance of ferrocement has been added.

The cost per unit of conventional low-cost housing has been one hundred and ninety-two thousand and twenty-nine lempiras and nineteen cents (L.192,029.19), compared to the budget of a house with ferrocement panels, which has been one hundred sixty-nine thousand seventy-five and forty-two cents (L.169,075.42) from which it has been concluded that ferrocement constitutes a viable option to reduce costs per unit of affordable housing.

For the structural analysis, the STAAD.Pro program has been used, through which a model similar to that provided by Habitat for Humanity Honduras has been developed, for which the regulatory burdens described in CHOC-08 have been applied, which has yielded as a result, a bending moment of 0.61kN-m / m and a shear resistance of 21.78 kN/m2 that have met the minimum values expected to support the load of the roof structures.

New building trends toward a sustainable future that promotes the utilization of materials and energy have profoundly changed the concept of social housing in Ecuador, requiring flexible, personalized, and adaptable living spaces. This article describes the parametric design process for collective housing in Guayaquil, based on the principles and guidelines established for suburban areas. Digital technologies, such as parametric modeling (PM) and digital fabrication, were used to generate and materialize a project, exploring the combination of design parameters based on municipal regulations for its development. The original contribution lies in the design strategies for creating new types of social housing using algorithms applied to informal urban areas.

This paper presents a case study from Chihuahua, Mexico, where a comprehensive strategy was implemented to improve equity in drinking water distribution through the use of custom-designed hydraulic operation indicators. Traditional policies focused solely on increasing supply have proven insufficient to bridge the gap between technical operation and actual user satisfaction—especially in systems with intermittent supply.

A critical issue identified is that most operational decisions are made unilaterally by field staff, without adequately considering users’ experiences. This has led to mistrust and perceptions of unfairness. The breakthrough came from designing and implementing hydraulic indicators that act as a link between operator actions and user perception. These indicators assess pressure magnitude and permanence during service windows, enabling better-informed and user-oriented decisions.

From 2018 to 2024, continuous service coverage rose from 12% to 40%, with over 101,000 accounts integrated into pressure-managed, sectorized zones. Pumped volume was reduced by 470 liters per second, and distribution efficiency improved by 10%. Reported service complaints fell by 50%.

This approach argues that hydraulic indicators should not only measure infrastructure performance but also function as tools to rebuild trust, improve operational decisions, and guarantee the human right to water.