Mamohatra

School: Davidson IB Middle School
City: Mamohatra
Team: Luke Frederick Churchill, Emily Annie Yue, Rebekah Ruth Swallow
Teacher: Jay Durant Hager
Engineer-Mentor: Dane Allen Horna, PE

Mamohatra
Mamohatra has combined futuristic technologies, green principles, and cultural diversity to create a thriving, sustainable metropolis on the island of Madagascar. Our citizens enjoy clean water, renewable energy, convenient and efficient public transportation, job opportunities, arts and entertainment, and beautiful parks and recreation.


Implementing environmentally friendly technologies, we have developed CARE (Community Adaptable Refugee Establishment), a system designed to combat the global problems of poverty and homelessness. CARE meets the needs of refugees and the homeless by providing secure temporary homes with flexible living spaces and convenient access to all city services, including educational programs and job training. The CARE system also provides electricity, clean water, public transportation, communications, and waste management. We apply the principles of green engineering, using industrial processes that are economically feasible and have a low carbon footprint. These processes make CARE a clean, green, transitional living facility.

The CARE system is targeted toward refugees, homeless, and poor (people who earn 50% or less of average income). The complex can house 10-15,000 people. The CARE system is designed to help its residents by providing public services geared toward the immediate needs of the residents, such as job training and language acquisition. The CARE system is set up to help residents make the transition from temporary accommodations to paid employment and permanent housing. Community colleges and small starter loans help encourage people to improve their lives. Nestled between the industrial, commercial, and agricultural districts, and near transportation hubs, CARE provides residents convenient access to our entire city, making it easier for them to find jobs suited to their skills and then to rent or purchase their own housing in other parts of the city.


CARE structures are adobe-like, multistory complexes, made of a compound called “agro-waste” and bio-based foam insulation, and built vertically to save land. Once a prototype, agro-waste has become a reality. It is made by mixing various agricultural wastes such as rice and cornhusks, and then adding beach sand to make a moldable paste. When it hardens, the paste creates a reusable compound similar to stucco in both color and texture. It is highly durable against violent weather and other types of damage. When agro-waste’s minimal insulation is coupled with bio-based foam insulation, it provides a shield against extreme temperatures and helps prevent the spread of disease. Agro-waste transforms agricultural waste into an environmentally sustainable building material that decreases the carbon footprint.


CARE units are assembled with a lightweight durable carbon fiber frame on which the agro-waste is attached. The frame has nanosensors that analyze the integrity of the agro-waste material for safety. The nanosensors replace the more expensive nanobots located in buildings in other parts of our city, thus providing a more economical maintenance system.


Inside the buildings, sliding “smart screens,” similar to those in Japan, allow each unit to be adapted to the needs of different size families, which might range from one to eight persons. Smart screens allow residents to change the layout of walls, as well as their color, style, and decorative themes. The screens also reflect light waves, creating an aesthetically pleasing glow.


Our building is not only durable, but also replaceable. When the structure is in need of replacement (approximately 100 years), the agro-waste is re-compounded with new agricultural waste to reform the structure onto the existing frame. Sensors built into the carbon fiber frame send waves throughout the entire structure assessing cracks, breaks, and other flaws in the structure. This system records the flaws and when the flaws become too large or hazardous, engineers come to fix them. Using this system, the structures may endure for centuries.


CARE incorporates numerous green technologies to maximize efficiency. Our engineers researched multiple technologies and decided on Earthship design. Earthship design is the process of designing a home using the most efficient materials and technologies. Our engineers matched CARE to some of the more effective processes used in Earthships: “green” roofs and walls, and passive cooling. With different plants growing on the structure itself, green roofs provide food, recreation, and climate control. Passive cooling is a biomimicry concept—a building technology that mimics processes found in nature. Passive cooling mimics a termite nest, which is built to take advantage of natural solar heating and cooling from breezes. Like a termite mound, our building uses an intricate network of walls and windows to funnel air throughout the structure. It collects cool air that moves down and hot air that moves up. This regulates the temperature by controlling the amount of hot and cool air that flows through the building.


Although CARE is a very efficiently engineered community, it is not without faults. Agro-waste does not produce much extra refuse, but to dispose of any waste we use plasma gasification, a trash-disposal system that uses high temperatures to turn waste into a gas that can be made into textiles. Our plasma gasification system takes away almost all of the negative impact that the CARE system has on the environment.


CARE not only provides for the needs of thousands of refugees, it also enriches the entire community of our city. The quality of life and accommodations provided by CARE increases both land value and the overall appeal of our city. CARE promotes international cooperation and allows for everyone to find a place in Mamohatra. It provides public services and jobs for citizens that have nowhere else to go and minimizes crime by keeping the homeless off the streets. CARE’s technologies and systems provide a model for buildings everywhere. Soon, the CARE system will extend across the globe, leading to a tomorrow where the word ‘homeless’ is obsolete.