Incremental Development Manual: The Ger Innovation Hub, Mongolia

Abstract

The traditional Mongolian dwelling or ger is a resilient, engineered artefact that has evolved in direct correlation to the demands of nomadic life. It is designed for portability and all of its component parts are prefabricated and can be bought at everyday markets. A ger costs between 600USD-1000USD, making it the most economical form of housing in the city. However, its mobility, affordability and reproducibility have contributed to a rapid urbanization process in the city of Ulaanbaatar, resulting in the creation of sprawling districts with no basic infrastructure that nevertheless house over 70% of the city’s population, (1). The cold winters mean that each household in these ger districts uses around 3.8-5 tonnes of unrefined coal as their main heating source, contributing to toxic air pollution reaching levels reported to be 133 times higher than the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline, (2). Families collect water from kiosks making at least 8 trips per week and 95% have access only to pit latrines, (3). In this respect, the ger districts resemble a potential, dystopian future world: A world with an extreme climate, a scarcity of water, a dependency on coal-based fossil fuels, acrid air, polluted soils, unhealthy dwellings, and a lack of community cooperation. It sheds light on what could happen should we underestimate and ignore the climate crisis as an integrated problem that requires the invention of new spatial typologies, environmental tactics, and the engagement of residents. The aim of the project is to create an Incremental Development Manual as a strategic framework for sustainable and affordable district upgrading. This paper will report on one component of this Manual, The Ger Innovation Hub, a prototype for a community centre that demonstrates a methodology to engage the climate crisis through the intersection between research, design practice, and education. The process includes fieldwork and household surveys, environmental modelling, community workshops, student design-build courses, event programming, financial planning, and in-use performance testing. The paper will document how this methodology is able to generate knowledge exchange and impact to various stakeholders at each stage of the project: from inception, to construction to post-occupancy. It will explain how the project innovated with passive environmental strategies to provide a low-cost solution to reduce energy consumption and the reliance on coal as a heating source. Operational since January 2020, the article will report on the effectiveness of the prototype in terms of its environmental performance through the analysis of temperature data as well as its capacity to enable resident participation to gradually strengthen the community and forge new methods of collaboration. The future implications of larger scale implementation of the method, as well as the building, will also be discussed. Although a singular building, the project demonstrates how the synergy between teaching, practice and research conducted by a lab within the University can lead to multiple forms of impact on a range of different stakeholders. This method shows how the design and construction of buildings can pioneer an integrated approach to the climate crisis.