VO VAN DUONG’S bamboo and coconut leaf house looks much like others deep in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. But unlike them, his seemingly simple abode is designed to withstand typhoons, flooding and earthquakes — and at a cost of less than US$4,000 could herald a new wave of cheap, sustainable housing.

    The natural materials on its surface belie the high-tech internal structure of the farmer’s new home, which uses steel struts and wall panels as a defense against the elements in this natural disaster-prone region.

    “The new house is safer, I’m not afraid that it will collapse,” the 48-year-old papaya farmer said inside the house he moved into nine months ago.

    Duong is testing a prototype by an award-winning Vietnamese architecture firm looking for low-cost housing solutions for communities vulnerable to climate change.

    His S-House 2 was free, but if rolled-out on a wider scale could be sold for less than US$4,000.

    “There was water coming down from the roof in my old house. Sometimes, when there was a strong wind, I was so afraid the house wouldn’t survive,” Duong said.

    The eco-home is the brainchild of Vo Trong Nghia, who joins other architects around the world in trying to fill a demand for cheap and easy to assemble housing — from flat-pack refugee shelters to shipping-container homes for tsunami victims.(SD-Agencies)