Meet Sol Lewites (Rodriguez), a MASc student at UBC Forestry and co-founder of Casa Congo – a sustainability hub that incubates community enterprises to foster economic development and environmental restoration. Passionate about sustainable construction, Sol’s research focuses on harnessing the power of bamboo to revolutionize the built environment. Join us as we explore Sol’s journey towards creating eco-friendly building materials and delving into the benefits of bamboo construction through his work with Casa Congo.
Can you tell us about your work with Casa Congo and the KuNa project and your role?
During my second year of UBC undergrad I founded Casa Congo together with fellow UBC Forestry alumni Luca Marsaglia. Casa Congo is a sustainability hub that incubates community enterprises to foster economic development and environmental restoration. In 2020, I led the delivery of project KuNa which is a bamboo social housing program that introduced bamboo as safe, resilient and sustainable alternative to traditional concrete brick housing in Nicaragua. In 2021 we delivered 20 prefabricated homes for families affected by hurricane Iota and Eta in El Astillero, Nicaragua. Each home comprises of 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, rain water collection system and off-grid sewer treatment.
How does Casa Congo work with local communities in Nicaragua to implement the bamboo social housing program?
Casa Congo deploys the funds to provide free training to local community cooperatives that are interested in learning how to build with bamboo. For project KuNa International experts were brought into Nicaragua to educate, teach and supervise the establishment of the bamboo supply chain. Bamboo forest engineers trained local farmers how to intervene and manage primary bamboo forest for efficient quality grade bamboo culm harvesting. Professional bamboo builders came in from Mexico and Colombia to deliver bamboo building workshops to local carpenters and enthusiast from El Astillero. Successful participants from each workshop were then carefully vetted to form part of the KuNa bamboo housing project.
What are some of the key benefits and advantages of using bamboo as a primary material for building these homes?
There are three major advantages of using bamboo over traditional building materials to build social housing in regions that are close to bamboo forest. First, Dynamic lifecylce assessment (DLCA) shows that in comparison to concrete brick housing, bamboo constructions reduce green house gas emissions by 70% (Escamilla – Bridging Housing and Climate Needs: Bamboo Construction in Philippines, 2024). Secondly, homes built from bamboo are very light yet strong which enables the design of earthquake and hurricane proof homes. Thirdly, the majority of the homes cost is distributed within the local community (eg. farmers that procured bamboo) as we minimize the reliance on imported materials such as cement and steel.
How has your education at UBC prepared you for this work?
My supervisor Dr. Chunping Dai, has been incredibly supportive of my work for Casa Congo. We have had undergraduate and graduate students volunteer and conduct research in different aspects of the KuNa project ranging from social demographic studies to understanding bamboo material properties. Most importantly, UBC triggered my interest for sustainable development practices via the mass timber buildings and day to day green operations I see every day at the Vancouver campus.
Looking ahead, what are the future plans and aspirations for the KuNa project, and how do you envision it contributing to sustainable development in Nicaragua?
We are in the process of opening our second KuNa factory in Mexico. Our vision is to scale the model to all global communities affected by the housing crisis and live in proximity to bamboo plantations.