Design Green Design Portable Shelters for Homeless or Refugees Designed by ZO_loft By Christine Lepisto Writer St. Olaf College University of Minnesota Christine Lepisto is a chemist and writer from Berlin. A former Treehugger staff writer, she now runs a chemical safety consulting business. our editorial process Christine Lepisto Updated October 11, 2018 Migrated Image Share Twitter Pinterest Email Design Tiny Homes Architecture Interior Design Green Design Urban Design ZO_loft Wheelly: Shelter CartThe quest to find a suitable, if not ideal, solution to the problem of people dislocated from more permanent housing is a pressing issue which many designers take very seriously. The challenges are great: housing must be readily portable but robust enough to protect the homeless or refugees from the elements. It must be extremely cost effective. It should preserve some degree of dignity for people who are already suffering loss. The Italian group ZO_loft architecture & design (Andrea Cingoli, Paolo Emilio Bellisario, Francesca Fontana, Cristian Cellini) now adds their vision to the concept of temporary shelter. The ZO_loft Wheelly is private, portable, and offers a clever trick to solve issues of cost. For pictures of the Wheelly and an expanded-view explanation of the Wheely design, check over the fold. ZO_loft Wheelly ConceptIntegration. Recyclable. Status Symbol. Shelter. Stall. Cart. Sponsor. City Language. Privacy. These words beckon from ZO-loft's flyer. Status symbol? Yes, indeed. As the businessman is the one with the overnight bag; the homeless will be the one with the colored wheel, no more a begger. ZO_loft Wheelly DesignThe elements from which the Wheelly is assembled are numbered in the image above: (1) 250 liter cloth bag(2) Reflecting colored rubber rim(3) Folding polyester resin tent, weight 160g/m2(4) Rubber tire(5) Aluminum frame(6) Pressed paper rollers, serve as bearings(7) Sponsored insulating rubber disk ZO_loft Wheelly InteractYou can place two wheellys together at the wheel to share space with a friend for a while. Both can sleep in the dualy-wheelly with the cloth stuff-sacks hanging between if they can tolerate the womb-like space offered by only half-a-wheelly. Which brings us to our one-and-only critique of the wheelly: it appears that the wheel creates a substantial intrusion into the tent space, exactly at the middle of its length. This would seem to make a comfortable night of sleep a challenge. ZO_loft Wheelly IntegrationBut in other regards, Wheelly represents fantastic creativity as an all-in-one habitat solution. Wheelly can carry and store personal possessions; up to 250 liters of stuff travels comfortably hammocked inside the wheel structure, then holds down one side of the caterpiller tent when at rest. Wheelly can be set up in an intermediate expansion to serve as a sheltered chair (sketch below title of this article). And an insulated rubber disk on the side can carry a sponsor's message, helping to make the units available at low cost to those in need. The Wheelly is also designed to be disassembled and is 100% recyclable. Certainly, ZO_loft has made a worthy contribution to the ongoing cause of designing like you give a damn. And perhaps to a generation of "Wheellers" who will laugh at the old-fashioned back-packers of the previous generation. A look at other concepts for temporary shelter:Pallet HouseHexayurtDome homes Via: Paolo Emilio Bellisario of ::ZO_loft