Cardboard to the Rescue
This week The Age newspaper had a terrific article that outlined possible design-based solutions to the plight of the homeless from the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. That article is here (and yes, the story has been accidentally repeated a few times within the same online article!).
What follows are some links to the architects mentioned and their proposed solutions:
Melbourne's Peter Ryan and his flatpack cardboard shelter. Easily assembled, recyclable and cheap (approximately $1500 each).
Japanese architect Shigeru Ban's cardboard tube and plastic crate constructions. Used after the Kobe earthquake of 1995 and in subsequent disasters in India, Turkey and Rwanda. Incidentally, it took ten years to rebuild Kobe and people lived in temporary shelters for eight years. Ban on Designboom and in Time Magazine.
Another Melbourne architect: Sean Godsell's internationally regarded Future Shack has a dwelling constructed within a shipping container. But as the Age article says, at $34,000 per fitted container it's probably not a viable solution. 'Future Shack' on Archidose and the Washington Post.
The Shelter Box devised by a local chapter of the Rotary organisation in the UK contains a 10-person tunnel tent and 10 sleeping bags.
Read more:
Slate: The Historical Problems with Emergency Housing.
The Guardian: From the Ruins, an Opportunity for Rebirth.
How can New Orleans' economic fortunes and important architecture be saved? The opinions of several architects.
Learning from San Francisco. The opinion of Architecture for Humanity's Kate Stohr.
Archinect's Disaster Relief Information.
The AIGA and The Chopping Black are working together to aid those designers directly affected by the recent disaster in the Gulf States via an initiative called Displaced Designer. Great stuff.
Great article! I loved those Shigeru Ban contructions. There is more on cardboard living here: http://sponbustion.com/archives/2005/09/17/cardboard-architecture/
Posted by: Nico | 10 November 2005 at 01:11 AM