A house design assistance program for the self-building process of the region of Campinas, Brazil: Evaluation through a case study

This paper evaluates a technical assistance program for house self-builders in the region of the city of Campinas, Brazil. The assistance given is in the form of an individualized house design, distributed to self-builders, based on an automated computer aided design (CAD) generated design method. A case study is used to demonstrate the efficacy of the assistance program. The transfer process of a population from an environmental protection area to a new location and their need for rapid house construction is the specific case presented. Houses are evaluated as to satisfaction and environmental comfort conditions. As a result, lessons are learnt about assistance programs and their success in improving housing quality.