Following up on a prior story about building inexpensive homes for the multitude  of poor people across the globe, Eco-Business notes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT)  grad student Ying chee Chui’s modular design incorporates hollow brick walls, reinforcing steel bars, wooden box beams, and includes a central courtyard within the 800 square feet. The prototype, located in Sichuan Province in central China, is designed to withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. Although the house cost just under $6,000, Chui says a 500 square foot version could be constructed for $4,000 if enough were built at the same time. He says, ” It’s part of the responsibility of an architect, to create these spaces for people to live. It’s from the heart.” MIT’s next housing project: Design a series of $10,000 homes.

(photo credit: Ying chee Chui)