DU Emergency Housing Design Contest

[Dover]

There are a lot of talented people here. Can we collectively come up with some solutions that might not only help on the Gulf Coast but also in future emergencies? Some of the parameters would be the need to use materials that were quickly and readily available, could be pre-constructed and moved to the location or built on site, must be economical.

Put your best ideas for temporary emergency housing solutions here, either original or pre-existing. And while I expect some funny answers, I'm dead serious about this and know that there are lots of very useful ideas that simply need to be aired.

Here is the post that inspired the idea:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x713506

And here are some students who are taking on this very challenge:
http://archrecord.construction.com/archrecord2/work/0603/gulfCoast.asp

[Taxloss]

1. Container crates.

They are excellent, transportable forms of shelter. Not the ritz, but better than a tent or a bunk in a stadium.

[Dover]

16. Like this?

A poster below ("Whoa Nelly") gave a link that included this recycled container kit:

The Quick House




http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=68

[Taxloss]

17. Yes, like that.

Used for shipping goods around the world. They're used as housing all over the place.

[Redstone]

19. And there are THOUSANDS of them hanging around unused.

Drive by Port of Elizabeth in New Jersey...you can see MOUNTAINS of them just sitting there.

At least last time I was down there.

Redstone

[northzax]

22. and we all know who runs the port of elizabeth

those bastards from the UAE, they'll never cooperate. Probably sent the hurricane in the first place.

[slor]

2. I think the Gulf Coast should be...

transformed into the Green Coast. We should allow Nature to reclaim most of it, and maybe build a few enviro friendly areas and restore a few non-residential historic areas, and only away from the coast. I know this does not really help in your specific design request, but we need to look at the big picture before we get into the specifics.

[Dover]

4. Well, that is what many of the students came up with....

though there was no discussion of 'green' materials as far as I know. But allowing the coast to be reclaimed by nature and moving the houses to certain areas away from the coastal edges was what they discussed.

I'm thinking about other, future situations that will call for quick housing solutions. The 'big picture' is extremely important, but it doesn't put a roof over someone's head right after a disaster hits. So that quick, temporary solution to housing is what I'm talking about. NOT the rebuilding issues...

[MadHound]

3. Easy

Earth bag/rammed earth housing. Not just easy and cheap to build, but the building material is plentiful, big plastic bags and lots of dirt.

Process is simple, fill large plastic bags or tubes with dirt, arrange them according to your design, and cover them liberally with plaster. Sturdy, energy efficient, and stand up well over time.

<http://www.naturalhomeandgarden.com/backissues/01-07/khalili.asp>
<http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/ow/9087f4e366a8081ba19afeb4da09e526.html>
<http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/QandA/earthbagQandA.htm>

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. The appraiser in me wonders if those would stand up to city code.

or if they would just circumvent code for the moment.

[MadHound]

7. Actually I think they would be fine for most codes

After all, it isn't like they're flammable or anything. Just dirt, plastic bags and plaster:shrug:

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. Construction codes here in MI limit the use of soil, refuse etc. for use

in constuction. I wasn't thinking fire codes. I am sure they would circumvent for temporary housing.

[Dover]

12. So many things are 'suspended' in an emergency, surely city codes

should set up some 'emergency housing codes', should the situation arise.

Don't know if you saw this thread, but it's related to the code issues.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x713079

[sweetheart]

10. rammed earth is heavy duty like adobe

http://www.rammed-earth.info/

The problem with this building material, is its weight. Utimately
construction is shifting weight, and this costs energy and time.

I think the container idea is more on the mark... something mass
shiftable, and with the right architect and stacking, a way to
privately, quickly house many people in decent keepings.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/housing/story/0,7890,822178,00.html

[Taxloss]

13. That's a good one

unless the soil is contaminated or saturated.

[midnight armadillo]

21. You beat me to it

Earthbag homes are an ideal solution - indeed, they're being promoted by Nader Khalili for just that purpose.

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. A thought on this a little more...My parents (well parent, since my dad

left) live in a mobile home park. Several of the homes in their park are for sale for $20,000 all the way down to $1,000. Could these not be purchased by the government (think emminent domain..sort of) from the sellers and moved? I lived in an older mobile home and while several of them would probably not pass inspection for movement, many of them would. Mine was 20 years old, but MrG had reinforced it and it was a lovely 780 s.f. home. It's just a thought. They are standing there empty anyway and many of them are quite nice looking with siding and shingled roofs. It's just a thought.

[Dover]

11. A great idea! Or at the very least, maybe they could create regional

lists of these available homes and make arrangements for temporary (or even permanent) housing for evacuees, leaving the trailers in-situ.

[Dover]

8. Would it make any sense to have whole towns built in designated areas

that would strictly be used for emergencies? A place to move evacuees for however long it takes to get them resettled? I know that we built 'emergency shelters' throughout the U.S. for various reasons, but this would take that idea further. And these 'emergency towns' could be placed strategically within various regions.

They could be built in such a way that maintenance would be minimal.

Of course there is upkeep and cost issues that would have to be thought through, but I'm just brainstorming...

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. Here's a site that has interesting ideas

http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/050909_quick_housing.html

The links within this article offer many ideas.

The biggest problem I see with any emergency housing is having it in the hands of the bureaucrats. If emergency shelters were part and parcel of money allocation from groups such as Red Cross, then maybe emergency housing would stand a chance of actually happening and not being shipped to other states, left to stand out of reach of the survivors or just plain having the needs of the survivors ignored. Any ideas/materials for emergency housing left in the hands of the government could stand the chance of never being used as intended.

Re: rammed earth/Eco-friendly green possibilities:

IMO, it has to be taken into consideration that the ground may be contaminated and not viable. This also goes for rammed earth and/or re-use of items at hand in the disaster zones.that have been in contact

[FlaGranny]

15. I don't much like the idea of

rammed earth or container crates. Tell you why - no good ventilation, dark, and little protection against mosquitos. I'd much rather stay in one of those large 3-room tents high enough to stand up in, with screening, light, and excellent cross ventilation. Of course, that would be a solution for a warm climate. Such a tent is lightweight and easy to transport. In fact, I know someone who lived in such a tent for several years, had electricity in it and even a TV.

[sweetheart]

18. it depends on what has been done to the crate

There are architects who are finishing out the insides of them, with
isulation, windows and skylights, using the pre-structure of the crate
as a very cheap and ready transportable chassis that is stackable, but
not the interior. This is ventilated with a proper modern heatpump.

You could shift in 1000's of ready-habitable containers and just line
them up in a vacant lot, each container has its own contianed bathroom/sanitary,
and the whole housing crisis is reduced to getting these modules to the
area of need as fast as they can be transported. I'd wager you could buy used
containers for a few hundred bucks and the finished modules could be stacked in
a few emergency warehouses around the country, as federal emergency housing
modules... and as fast as trucks can haul them, they can arrive anywhere.

AS for longer term solutions of "rebuilding", an entirely different matter.
A tent is not a long standing solution in extreme weather. It is not secure
to crime and violence that often is a serious subproblem in refugee areas.

[FlaGranny]

20. That would make a difference and

make the crate more livable. My thinking, though, is immediate shelter. I'm going to try to get a tent for us this season. My worry is not so much having our mobile home in South Florida blown away - it is having damaged windows or something breaking through a wall and having to deal with mosquitos until a repair can be done. Even in South Florida, the nights are cool enough to sleep in a tent comfortably outside. Without electricity and air conditioning, the tent would be way more comfortable than sleeping inside. Two years in a row we have been without power for two weeks and THAT can get really oppressive and impossible to sleep at night with no a/c. A warm weather tent has ventilation all around and in the top and is much cooler than being inside.

[sweetheart]

24. Its interesting based on your perception of climate

When i think of someone becoming storm-homeless here in north
scotland, i'm thinking.. 200mph winds, a fire, an explosion,
or a radiation leak... and in most all cases, the housing requirement
would need withstand 100mph winds. Tents are not realistic.

Its a worldwide problem this, the need to create a temporary city of
civil accomodation in the shortest time possible. Were that that be an
olympic event for civilization olympics... instead of a 100meter run, it
would be builidng a 5 star hospital in a poor country., creating a
temporary city for 50,000 people in 1 day on the other side of the
planet. Then considering nordic as well as southern climates, needs
a transportable shelter to as well be self-drying, so in case of extreme
flooding or wetness, the stock survives it impeccably.

I think we've simply not approached disaster preparedness given our
new "star trek" world, and what could be possible given what technology
we've deployed in space for peets sake. You'd think that a nation intent
on probing the outer planets could create a perfect market of commoditized
public goods markets that balance out the footprint of humankind with
the reality, that the system become economically self regulating. The
tragedy of a future of overpolluted overpopulated fucked up planet, is
within our grasp to sort out today if we get the public goods markets
pricing the wholistic equation.

/ramble off

For an optimist there is so much to hope for, and for a pessimist, tragedy
of war sort outs whats worth dying for.

/really ramble off :-)

[FlaGranny]

25. Climate is an important factor.

Once we have a hurricane, in most cases there is a several week period before there is any more dangerous weather. A large hurricane uses up the "fuel" and the heat engine is diminished. In most cases the weather after a hurricane is clear, dry, and calm, although usually hot. In this area, we don't have too much worry about things other than hurricanes.

Cold weather disaster is an entirely different story, I imagine.

[Catchawave]

23. I like the Yurt idea on the other thread...

http://www.yurts.com/gallery/photo-gallery.aspx