HENDECAHEDRON SHELTER
The need for temporary structures increases worldwide. A changing world requires new solutions and in the fall of 2015, the master students in the studio Material and Detail at Chalmers Architecture asked the question - what sould a rapidly deployable refugee shelter look like?
By group of four people we worked on the urgent problem of rapidly deployable shelters, for the support in case of natural disaster and for refugee camps.
The studio has focused on the interaction between architecture and digital design as well as manufacturing. Coupling robotic manufacturing technology with EPS foam, the projects challenge the barracks and tents presently used in refugee camps.
FACTS
Second biggest camp in the world
Lack of furniture, everything on the floor
Family = the most important thing
Average 4.7 residents per household
Eating = a social activity
Many children
Privacy issues
Desire to meet and stay with the others
Summer - hot, dry and dusty
PURPOSES
Work with verticality to strengthen the density
Include the furniture in the design, functions in the walls
Big interior space where to live together
Possibility of assembling more shelters together
Functions divided into private and shared
Work with a playfulness
Create private spaces
Modularity on site level to work with common spaces
Work with different materials
The Hendecahedron
II Faces
Remplisseur d'espace
Géométrie Bissymétrique
Logique constructive claire
Répétabilité efficace
Key Principles
MODULARITY
Different spaces with the same geometry
Inclined surfaces
Different combinations
Variety of outdoor spaces
NICHES
Functions in the walls
Subtractive logic of the foam
DIVIDE SPACE
generic private spaces and public
parts directed outwards
VERTICALITY
Different levels
Shapes for an urban landscape
Floor surface : 11m²
Additional surface: 21m²
Floor surface : 22m²
Additional surface: 42m²
Floor surface : 33m²
Additional surface: 63m²
Floor surface : 44m²
Additional surface: 84m²
Urbanism
Organisation of the urban plan of a district which creates public and private spaces
Common spaces between the shelters for the families that live in it
Semi-private spaces created by the forms and shadows of the assembling of the shelters
Climbing system to enter to the differents shelters levels
Interesting shadows created by the form of the shelters and their superposition.
Unique shelter used as shared toilets shared by one district
Walking paths
Publics spaces and meeting points
Courtyards
Shelters
Main roads and quarters
Plan and sections of two units assembled
Assembly manual
Structure
Geometry is divided in pieces to make it easier to build.
Angles of the edges are designed to keep the pieces together.
Metal band structure keeps the foam pieces in compression using tension
3 bands for each shelter:
- 2 Symmetrical bands
- 1 Shared band between 2 different shelters to join them
Metal rings keep the bands in tension and join all of them together in one point
Wood joints between pieces on the same plane to prevent rotation
Reuse of waste
