Although the Brazilian Federal Government has been improving investments in the housing sector since 2004, the housing deficit has increased significantly. In 2004, a program was created to subsidize low-income social housing (PSH) with a maximum subsidy of about US$ 2,500 for the construction of "do-it-yourself" units. The present research had the general purpose of conceiving, constructing and evaluating the performance of a prototype for building social housing consisting of wood and plywood panels. The object of analysis in this case-study was a building prototype in Canoinhas, located in the State of Santa Catarina, south of Brazil, in order to attend the program for subsidized social housing. The study was developed in three stages: a) evaluating the quality achieved during the building process, b) evaluating the thermal performance of the finished prototype by means of onsite measurements; and c) computer simulations. From the obtained results, general guidelines were drawn for improving indoor comfort conditions.
Low-cost house; building performance evaluation; thermal comfort
