How the BuildX Studio is Creating Dignified Circular Affordable Housing Across Kenya | Carolina Larrazábal

Urban Limitrophe

In this episode, I speak with Carolina Larrazábal, the co-founder and design director at BuildX Studio. BuildX Studio is an innovative award-winning architectural studio based in Nairobi, which is the first architecture, engineering or construction company in Africa to become B Corp™ certified. The team at BuildX Studio is on a mission to build radically better buildings, and back in July 2021 I got to speak with Carolina to learn more about how her team is building dignified circular affordable housing in Kenya and how through their relationships and partnerships with other organizations such as their sister branch BuildHer, their work focuses on embedding equity, diversity and sustainability in every stage of the development process.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• what is dignified affordable housing and what considerations go into creating it,
• Mass timber/Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and why BuildX thinks that it is the future of building materials in this region and beyond,
• BuildX's Circular Cooperative Affordable Housing Project,
• their efforts to build 10,000 affordable homes by 2030,
• how they hope that their affordable homes will provide a pathway to homeownership for low-income sectors of the population,
• and much more!

Guest: Carolina Larrazábal

• Instagram: @buildxstudio
• Twitter: @buildxstudio
• Youtube: BuildX Studio
• Website: www.buildxstudio.com

Acknowledgements:

This episode is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto School of Cities and the Department of Geography and Planning.

The School of Cities "convenes urban-focused researchers, educators, students, practitioners and the general public to explore and address complex urban challenges, with the aim of making cities and urban regions more sustainable, prosperous, inclusive and just". To learn more about the School of Cities visit www.schoolofcities.utoronto.ca.

To learn more about the Department of Geography and Planning and the different undergraduate and graduate programs available please visit www.geography.utoronto.ca.

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Podcast concept, develepment, and design by Alexandra Lambropoulos.

Music by Imany Lambropoulos

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