Gimme Shelter: Designing for Disaster
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 10.23.07
So many architects have tried to design transportable housing for emergencies; not many work. Wired covers a few of them: "Shipping costs are prohibitive -- it can sometimes cost twice as much to ship a design as it does to build it," says Architecture for Humanity's Kate Stohr. "Designs that are scalable, built using local materials or can also be used as core housing -- as a hub for basic services like sanitation, communication, supplies -- that basic dose of shelter, are key."
Kate also notes that housing units are not the only thing that are needed; "You can’t design for disaster after the fact," notes Kate. "Unless it's strategically thought about in advance of disaster, these ideas don't work." Often, what’s needed most is a central station where basic necessities -- water, food, medical supplies and information -- can be doled out.
Kate notes that "For emergency shelter in the first few days after a disaster, the tent is a proven solution;" Patrick Wharram's Lightweight Emergency Shelter is a mini building that's easy to transport and can be erected immediately. Wharram’s design is shipped in one piece -- an aluminum frame sewn into a piece of recycled polyester fabric allows for mass-production as well as an easy pop-up setup, reducing the possibility of misplacing pieces.
"The SHRIMP ("sustainable housing for refugees via mass production") is a boxy shelter meant to accommodate up to four people. It folds into a quarter of its original size for efficient shipping. Seen here as a scale model, the SHRIMP design significantly reduces the amount of space required to transport the shelter (think Ikea), allowing them to be dispatched in large quantities: four units can fit in one container. "
See them all at ::Wired
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When they were building all those formaldehye-laden trailers in the wake of Katrina, I wondered why they didn't just convert old shipping containers into temporary homes. We've got plenty of 'em because of our trade imbalance with the rest of the world. Cutting out some windows and putting kitchens and bathrooms and insulation in them seems easier than making a whole FEMA emergency trailer for scratch, and saves lots of embodied energy while eliminating the uncessary use of new products put into something not intended to last very long.
because people would cry foul if they were forced to live in something they knew started out as a shipping container even though most would buy the same formaldehye materials themselves at hardware stores if they were cheap.
i think Ingemar kamprad of IKEA could solve this SHRIMP problem easy. He sertainly has the money!
I guess the cost of shipping containers from the coast inland would cost a fortune. Those things are massive and only fit one per truck.
The Hexayurt (http://hexayurt.com) which recently won the Treehugger Participate! Contest
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/participate_win.php
is also featured in the Wired Shelter Gallery
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/10/gallery_instant_housing?slide=8&slideView=6
its very intresting to see that kind of humanitarian design!
The problem with shipping containers is not only the transportation, but also their individual cost: (ca. 3.000 $ each (used ones) plus the time & money to make them habitable)