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Pallet House Solution for Millions Left Homeless By Disaster
greenupgrader.com — Over 5.5 million people in China have been left homeless by the earthquake, 400,000 people by the flooding in Sri Lanka, and many many more are displaced by natural disasters or regional conflicts every year so the demand for temporary shelters is huge. This Pallet House is a sustainable & innovative approach to transitional relief housing.
thegreengunner- 171 diggs
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- rtknox00, on 07/07/2008, -1/+11I like the idea of temporary housing that can be upgraded into permanant housiing to reduce waste" or something like that.
- MattgUP, on 07/07/2008, -0/+8I think that this is a great solution. It's great that it uses readily available materials and that the design reduces waste, but the fact that it's not just a tent or just a cookie cutter pod will be helpful the psyche of the homeless families. I think he ability to quickly create something that is specific to the families needs and the ability to build onto it to make a more permanent home will help foster emotional recovery for the people traumatized by the disaster.
- chadwalters23, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4You can furnish it with this.
http://digg.com/arts_culture/An_apartment_s_worth_ ... - MacBookForMe, on 07/07/2008, -0/+4A very good idea! Mass production and optimization will also lover the costs.
- lacronicus, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1I thought the idea was that the materials were recycled. There are already enough pallets to do this, and "optimization" means making materials specifically for this project, which defeats the purpose.
- pinkpackrat, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3Sheer genius--shipping pallets recycled as temp to perm housing. This could make a huge difference in so many ways.
- thegreengunner, on 07/07/2008, -0/+1great idea, so critical to use what is at hand to its highest potential, especially in a disaster/survial situation.
- aki009, on 07/07/2008, -0/+2Neat. But a word of caution on the chemicals that are used to treat some pallets. That stuff should not get into people's homes. Perhaps a solution is to use a sealing interior lining that keeps the nasty stuff out.
- Surferess, on 07/07/2008, -0/+3Let's do it!
- SVOboy, on 07/07/2008, -0/+2Finally a use for all those pallets I have laying around.
- darkane, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2I seem to remember a magazine article a few years ago about somebody producing cardboard domes that were waterproof, rather large, well-constructed and ridiculously cheap. From what I remember, it seems like they would be a better option. But I haven't heard anything about them since.
- geoken, on 07/08/2008, -0/+2It sounds overly optimistic. For this to be feasable they need to be used pallets (because if they were shipping new pallets it would be cheaper to just use regular lumber). As far as used pallets go, 4 out of 5 would be no where near the pristine condition that the pallets in those pics are.
Also the premise that supplies are being sent on pallets anyway, so we wouldn't have to ship any extra material is flawed. They say the 10x20 shelter requires 80 pallets. To put that into perspective, a tractor trailer filled to the brim will only hold ~36 standard sized pallets. So if they have 45 homeless families they would need over 100 trucks filled with supplies to build the needed pallet houses. It's highly unlikely that 45 families would need 100 trucks of relief supplies, they'd be lucky to get 3. In the end, there is a massive gap between the amount of pallets needed and the amount they'd actually be getting with their relief supplies.- TheMachine1, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1What I was thinking where are these magical infinite pallet coming from?
Now this is more realistic:
http://hexayurt.com/
I want to build one myself. - thegreengunner, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1 i think the main focus is using available materials at a disaster site (wood from pallets) and putting it to use which this concept aptly addresses. I do see some of your logistical points, perhaps not going to house all victims etc, but maybe could set up aid centers using this method or other central service shelters.
- TheMachine1, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1What I was thinking where are these magical infinite pallet coming from?
- Lagger, on 07/08/2008, -0/+21927 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_house
- Mikeachim, on 07/08/2008, -0/+1Great idea (and article). I was going to say that any free temporary housing is going to end up permanent anyway - but it turns out that's the idea.
Sure, the 'one size fits all' approach ignores local architectural styles (looking here at the Dymaxion house, where there's an argument that applies here) but styles....are a luxury. - livefree12, on 07/15/2008, -0/+1this is an awesome idea! thank you for sharing!
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