Simi Aluko

Graduate Student Research Funding | 2022 - 2023 Academic Year

Industrializing Vernacular House-Building: Towards a Community-Centered, Sustainable Construction Methodology for Urban Africa.

African cities face an urgent need for adequate housing as over 50% of residents live in inadequate conditions due to construction inefficiencies. To fill this gap, Aluko’s research introduces a novel construction method called Industrialized Vernacular House-Building (IVHB). IVHB combines principles from African artisanal construction with Industrialized House Building (IHB). Artisanal construction methods are inefficient but affordable and culturally accepted, while IHB is more efficient but expensive and difficult to adapt to local culture. As the basis for developing IVHB, Aluko’s proposed study will document African artisanal construction practices through a combination of engineering process mapping and anthropological design ethnography.

Simi Aluko, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Simi Aluko is a PhD student from Lagos, Nigeria studying construction innovation and industrialization in Africa. Aluko is supervised by Professor Martin Fischer at Stanford’s Center for Integrated Facility Engineering. Before beginning her PhD, Aluko worked in large construction enterprises, startups, and research institutions in Nigeria, Tanzania, and in the U.S.. She holds a BS in civil engineering from the Johns Hopkins University and an MS in sustainable design and construction from Stanford University. Aluko is passionate about engineering for sustainable development with a focus on community-centered housing solutions for African cities.

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