Architectural Design I & II

Project #2

Disaster relief housing

Program of requirements:

The recent disasters in many parts of the world revealed one of the important facts. In case of such disasters like Katrina, needs for emergency shelters that can be transported to remote locations in short time are apparent. One of the possible methods is use of shipping container.  They can be transported to anywhere in the world in a variety of methods, ships, trains and trucks or even in the air.

In this exercise, students are required to design temporary “housing units” that can be transported to sites and constructed quickly, using shipping containers as basic module. The basic dimension of the containers are: 8’-0” wide, 8’-6” high and 20’-0” and/or 40’-0” in length. Any kind of materials may be used.

The containers should be prefabricated and assembled on site to form the units. They are assumed to be self supporting and stackable. They may be reshaped on site, but on site assembly should be easy and quick.

Although the immediate need is temporally nature, the units should be designed for semi-permanent or permanent use. The housing units should provide not only the temporally relief but also pleasant and comfortable environments to the victims.

The hypothetical site for the units is on a relatively flat terrain in a suburb of a moderate climate zone city. (Around 32 degree latitude, 20 feet above sea level)  Infrastructures such as access roads, water, sewage, electricity, etc. are assumed to be laid out. It is also assumed that the site will be a part of hundreds or perhaps thousands of the emergency housing units in an immense area assigned for the relief efforts.

One challenge is to give innovative and creative solutions to the use of shipping containers. Students may want to consider emphasizing his/her theme showing such interests as: Transportability, Pre-fabrication methods, On site assembly methods, Cost effectiveness, Recycling, etc.

Presentation Requirements: 

• Site model (1/8”=1’-0” or similar) with minimum of 20 units forming a block or a community group
• Typical unit model (1/2”=1’-0”) showing detailed interiors and exterior finishes.
• Freehand sketches, renderings, photos, articles, 3D modeling, anything to back up your design.