A construção de moradias térreas populares no Brasil: inovações tecnológicas e manufatura responsiva

Resumo (EN)

This paper encompasses, under the focus of production engineering, the type of construction presently occurring in Brazil: one family ground floor dwellings, destined for the low income population, with the purpose to eliminate, or at least reduce, the Brazilian housing deficit. First of all, it analyses the country‟s present day social and economic panorama and shows the great capacity of wealth generation in Brazil, contrasted with perverse distribution of wealth, which causes the existence of large population groups without any assistance by public authorities, living in dwellings classified by IBGE as below acceptable norms, usually in periphery of metropolitan areas. The condition of poverty experienced by significant parcel of the Brazilian population, estimated in seven million people, clearly indicates the existence of a consumer market desiring the ownership of a dwelling as well as more dignified living conditions. Through housing programs, all levels of government, federal, state and municipal, have been continuously investing in the construction of popular dwellings which, integrated with Communal Nuclei (Núcleos Habitacionais), in order to achieve effective social insertion of low income families in Brazil. This is the general situation on which thousands of one family ground floor dwellings are being built, using diverse technologies and construction materials. Characteristics of these processes are analyzed in this paper. The rapid pace of these processes, from which derived the expression „Fast Construction‟, are consequence of the technological development of new materials, equipments and construction methods that took place in this 21st. century . The author, based on his professional experience, analyzes this entire state of affairs, according to precepts of production engineering, and endeavors to demonstrate that the acceleration of processes for construction of popular houses fits pretty well into the concepts of quick response manufacturing. Further on, from the various existing alternatives for the construction of one family low cost dwelling, the author emphasizes as most promising the one called Sturdy House (Casa Robusta), which is built with only one material, concrete. He then describes the sturdy house in detail, highlighting the installation by modules. In the study of the different types of dwellings and their construction techniques, the author comments the hindrances presented by civil engineering to fit into the concept of a true assembly line. Finally, the importance of the Communal Nuclei are carefully considered and special emphasis is placed on the My House, My Life Housing Program (Programa Habitacional Minha Casa Minha Vida), conducted by the three levels of government. It has become the main propelling agent for the social insertion of low income families; they consider the ownership of a home the conquest a new higher level of citizenship.