These sharply designed experimental homes could help Africa solve a pressing problem

Today, sub-Saharan Africa makes up roughly 16% of the world's population.

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According to UN estimates from earlier this August, by 2100 it will make up more than 50%.

Sensing a need for smarter housing, students from a German design school have partnered with Ethiopian architecture students to build three prototype houses in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The homes go up quickly and offer shelter to a group of people who will soon have many more neighbors — check out the designs below.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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Each year since 2012, Bauhaus-Weimar students have teamed up with the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development to erect a new house.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

Each house employs a different core structure. The first model is called SECU, or Sustainable Emerging City Unit, and costs $8,500 to build.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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Its design is meant to be ambitious — as in a three-month build time. It offers over 1,000 square feet of space, spread across two stories, and protects against earthquakes and heavy rains.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

SECU is made of highly compressed straw panels, rubber, metal sheets, and compressed wood — all new materials to be assembled on-site, Bauhaus explains.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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According to Bauhaus, "the significant roof overhang and green screen of climbing plants give the unit its own character and protect the straw panels from rainwater."

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

Though ambitious, SECU's design could end up providing extra business for the farming sector near emerging cities, Bauhaus says.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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After finding success in Ethiopia, Bauhaus students began construction on a similar compound of five SECU homes earlier this year, this time in Rwanda.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

A year later, Bauhaus students returned to construct SICU, or the Sustainable Incremental Construction Unit.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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With just a two-week build time, the plan for SICU is to allow locals to quickly and easily construct their own homes out of prefabricated materials sent to them.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

The 925-square-foot modular home has a concrete foundation, timber and eucalyptus frame, plywood walls, and a metal roof. Its cost is approximately $7,000.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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Bauhaus says this shift away from expensive materials "presents a cost-efficient and faster alternative for the construction sector," which allows SICU to fit into small, dense plots.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

Like this one.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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The final home, installed last year, is called MACU — short for Mobile Automated Construction Unit.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

MACU goes up in one day. At 387 square feet and $10,000 to build, the home is meant to be totally versatile. The only material is 18-millimeter-thick eucalyptus board.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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Using Configurable Network Computing technology, the entire house can be cut to different specifications depending on the function it will serve.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

"The principle is suitable for individual functional units such as schools, kindergartens, offices, temporary houses, remote shelters, as well as items in urban space," Bauhaus explains.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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Those include information kiosks, bus stops, security post units, or for shaded canopies for public recreation.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building

Together, the homes could help a rapidly growing region continue to flourish on the world stage.

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Bauhaus Experimental Building
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