Presentation of Habitat Scroll
of Honour 2005
Professor Johan Silas of Indonesia is awarded "for years of research and work dedicated to providing affordable shelter for the poor". Indeed, Professor Silas and fellow team members at the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh nopember (ITS) count among their achievements a means of building a decent, serviceable new home in less than ten hours with simple material, tools and skills. In less than two months, about 1,000 of these units were built in Calang in Aceh Jaya, a Sumatra island town virtually destroyed by the tsunami. Professor Silas has constantly sought new ways of improving village housing in East Java, the most populated province in Indonesia
Mrs.Anna K. Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Director of UN-HABITAT; Mr. Johan Silas, Head of Laboratory for Housing and Human Settlements ITS; Mr.Yusuf Ashari, Minister of Housing, Mrs Diane Diacon, Director Building and Social Housing Foundation.