Archinect - News

Liv-Connected launches a modular approach to home design and a solution to the growing housing shortage

2022-08-22T16:09:00-04:00

New York startup Liv-Connected has released a modular approach to housing that tackles the homebuilding market's material and skilled labor shortages and limited housing inventory.

Cofounded by architects Jordan Rogove, Wayne Norbeck, Joe Wheeler, and healthcare professional Dr. Herb Rogove in 2019 (Jordan Rogove and Wayne Norbeck are also cofounders of NYC-based architecture firm DXA Studio), the endeavor aimed to seek a solution to disaster-relief housing that embodied a sense of permanence and resulted in an affordable, sustainable, and high-quality, health-centered solution to homebuilding.

Image courtesy of Liv-Connected.

The emergence of Liv-Connected reflects the commitment to homeowners' health and wellness and their team of architects and healthcare providers. "We started with the assumption that disaster housing could be so thoughtful that it might become permanent," shared Norbeck during a conversation with Forbes' Jennifer Castenson. "We were interested in the possibil...

In 24 hours, get a 3D-printed house that will last 175 years

2017-03-07T12:40:00-05:00

Although it's unclear when the furnishing/window and door fitting process takes place, one thing is certain: you can now have the basic components of an entire 400 square foot house printed in about a day from the company Apis Cor. Aside from being speedy, the $10,000 printing process is impressive because the house is printed using only one machine, instead of a multi-component process that requires wall assembly. In this slightly bizarre promotional video (featuring notable speakers including a student, identified only by first name without any kind of school affiliation) the 3D printed houses are envisioned as being great solutions for providing fast relief from natural disasters. Since they're designed to last 175 years, it makes one wonder if these curvy domiciles could become a kind of inadvertent historical marker of previous catastrophes. Check it out:

Students design disaster relief structure that takes 2 hours to assemble

2016-06-29T13:08:00-04:00

“AbleNook is a modular disaster relief dwelling that you can put together without tools in under two hours,” Verdecia said.

While Shigeru Ban has become the de facto expert in designing quick yet elegant solutions for disaster relief housing, he may have some competition in the form of two University of South Florida architecture students whose "AbleNook" can be assembled in under 120 minutes without any tools.

Sean Verdecia and Jason Ross, the students behind the design, constructed their 20' x 13' x 10' module out of aircraft grade aluminum with insulated panels that "you can just click together without any tools,” Verdecia said.

Not only can the unit be constructed without tools, but its modularity allows for easy expansion into larger structures. Here's the video backstory behind the Cade Museum People's Choice Award-winning design:

Shigeru Ban: Beauty as a basic human need

2015-06-23T14:56:00-04:00

Aesthetics is a primary concern for Ban—not despite, but especially in humanitarian scenarios. He believes that beauty is a basic need, an aspect of a person’s dignity. Erecting beautiful, if simple, structures can ensure that a refugee camp is not labeled a slum. So, when examining available materials in Kobe, he fussed about the color of the beer crates, choosing Asahi’s more neutral plastic bins over Kirin’s glaring red crates.

Last week, Ban visited several U.S. cities on a brief lecture tour, captivating audiences with his thoughts about "the Temporary and the Monumental." Read Archinect's report from his Los Angeles lecture at LACMA here.

Between the Temporary and the Monumental: A Review of Shigeru Ban's Lecture at LACMA

2015-06-19T18:29:00-04:00

“I hate to throw things away,” explained the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban to a packed audience at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art last night. On the projection screen, one of his first works as an architect was displayed: an exhibition of the work of Alvar Aalto, who Ban cited as one of his primary influences. The exhibition was the first time Ban worked with paper tubes, which has become one of his signature strategies. “I couldn’t afford wood like Aalto,” so he turned to the large tubes that had once supported reams of tracing paper. Finding the tubes surprisingly strong, Ban began testing their viability – and the rest has become history.

Throughout the evening’s lecture, Ban spoke with refreshing humility, a quality that often seems lacking among his peers. Many of his most iconic design decisions he attributed to chance, like his use of paper. As Ban worked his way through a retrospective survey of his career, he made frequent quips that enlivened the mood a...

UN Refugee Agency Commissions 10k Ikea-designed Better Shelters

2015-03-31T17:23:00-04:00

Ikea's line of flat-pack refugee shelters are going into production, the Swedish furniture maker announced this week, after being tested among refugee families in Ethiopia, Iraq, and Lebanon. The lightweight "Better Shelter" was developed under a partnership between the Ikea Foundation and the ...UNHCR... Each unit takes about four hours to assemble and is designed to last for 3 years — far longer than conventional refugee shelters, which last about 6 months.

As the Verge article notes, the announcement comes at a time when there are nearly 4 million people left without homes from the ongoing wars in Syria alone. Globally, there are 45.2 million people currently displaced by conflict and persecution according to a UNHCR report. And even that number doesn't account for the millions currently being displaced by drought, famine, rising sea levels, resource scarcity or other ecological disasters.

The Ikea Foundation's "Better Shelter" houses comprise three individual parts: the frame, the panels, and the photo voltaic system. They can be assembled on site without any additional tools or equipment. While lightweight and transportable, the units are designed to last three years. The solar panels charge an LED light that can be used at night for four hours or to charge a mobile phone.

In an article posted last year, Architectures of the Disaster, I consider other design projects addressing the global refugee crisis.

Relocation or Adaptation: Earth Home Project Brings Relief to Pakistanis Reeling from Floods

2015-02-14T11:58:00-05:00

In July 2010, heavy monsoon rains flooded nearly 20% of Pakistan, producing a crisis later described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the worst disaster he had ever seen. The floods affected around 20 million people and claimed the lives of nearly 2,000. Ravaging infrastructure and agriculture, the total economic impact has been estimated to be as much as $43 billion. Pakistan is still far from recovering, in no small part because of a calamitous lack of relief funds and international aid.

In total, the floods left six million people homeless. Already in a precarious state afters decades of conflict and terrorist attacks, Pakistan’s infrastructure crumbled beneath the torrents of water. Then, in the fall of 2014, the strongest post-monsoon ever recorded in the country produced another round of disastrous floods in the Kashmir region of Pakistan and neighboring India. Affecting a total of more than 1.1 million people, the floods devastated an already-desperate population.

And, li...

The "suffocating" life in a Syrian refugee tent

2014-12-02T15:00:00-05:00

In the tents of Syrian refugees, stories abound and tragedies surround them daily... With the passage of time, a tent becomes a home and shelter, their only place in this limited world. When rain exhausts the roof of the tents and wind uproots them, the refugees agonize as much as they did over the destruction of their houses in al-Raqqa or Aleppo. “We may have grown accustomed to our tent. Some of us like it, and others still cannot stand it. Do you know how the world can become a tent?”

Residents of NYC Adult Home Asked to Repay FEMA Aid From Hurricane Sandy

2014-11-10T14:21:00-05:00

The residents of Belle Harbor Manor spent four miserable months in emergency shelters after Superstorm Sandy's floodwaters surged through their assisted-living center on New York City's Rockaway peninsula. Now, the home's disabled, elderly and mostly poor residents have a new headache: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked at least a dozen of them to pay back thousands of dollars in disaster aid.

Garrison Architects develops post-disaster housing prototype for NYC residents

2014-06-25T21:15:00-04:00

Garrison Architects adds to the pressing topic of 21st-century disaster resilience for dense urban cities with their modular post-disaster housing prototype. Developed for the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the project aims to provide New Yorkers not only with reliable and adaptable emergency shelter, but also to keep residents close to their communities and reduce the necessity of long-term displacement.

More details on the prototype's design below:

"The aim is to create a blueprint for post-disaster housing by utilizing the latest construction technology in conjunction with stringent requirements for safety, sustainability, durability, and universal design.
The five multi-story modules [that Garrison Architects designed] are infinitely flexible: they can be deployed in vacant lots, private yards, or public spaces. When needed, the modules are trucked to a site, craned into place, and plugged into utilities.
With 1- and 3-bedroom configurations, every unit features a liv...

Support Architecture for Humanity's work after Super Typhoon Haiyan

2013-11-11T16:16:00-05:00

With Architecture for Humanity's experience helping communities beyond the relief phase of disaster, we are currently mobilizing to assist in long-term reconstruction. Through speaking with local stakeholders and construction professionals, we are working to begin understanding the on-the-ground situation to prioritize rebuilding needs and help affected regions build back better and stronger.

Donate now and help support Architecture for Humanity's response in the typhoon-affected region. #Typhoonhaiyan

Editor's Picks #322

2013-07-02T12:00:00-04:00

News
RIP - Iconic Danish architect Henning Larsen died in his sleep in his home in Copenhagen on Saturday, June 22, 2013. Henning Larsen was 87 years old.

Lonnae O'Neal Parker of the Washington Post reported that after 14 years in the making and despite recent protests over the Gehry design, the Eisenhower Memorial Commission voted "to move forward with the Frank Gehry-designed memorial to the 34th president". have cheered "Hopefully the pious "National" Civic Art Society can now go bankrupt. LOL!"

Orhan Ayyüce posted a link to #occupygeziarchitecture where a group of architects are documenting the temporary structures that were destroyed by the police in Gezi Park, Istanbul. The group explains "The protests in Istanbul indicated one simple thing for architects (designers?): We need new definitions for architecture in situations when architecture is removed from architects.Each unique structure that we encounter in the streets and Gezi Park has its own in-situ design and impl...

AIA, Make It Right, St. Bernard Project and AFH launch competition to aid disaster survivors

2013-06-13T12:14:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) today announced a strategic partnership with Make It Right, St. Bernard Project and Architecture for Humanity to launch “Designing Recovery,” an ideas competition created to aid in the rebuild of sustainable and resilient communities. The competition, which is designed to help survivors of three recent natural disasters, was announced as a Commitment to Action at CGI America, an annual event of the Clinton Global Initiative focused on finding solutions that promote economic recovery in the United States.

Dow Building Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, is sponsoring the award, providing building science expertise and products.

The “Designing Recovery” competition will take place in three distinct settings – New Orleans, LA; Joplin, MO; and New York, N.Y. – where the non-profit partner organizations are already working to recover from previous disasters. The partner organizations will assemble a portfolio, or patter...

Home Sweet Shipping Container: NYC Creating Modular Disaster Housing

2012-11-21T14:43:00-05:00

Carved out of shipping containers, these LEGO-like, stackable apartments offer all the amenities of home. Or more, since they are bigger, and brighter, than the typical Manhattan studio. It’s the FEMA trailer of the future, built with the Dwell reader in mind.

Ever since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans six years ago, the Bloomberg administration has been quietly at work on creating a disaster housing that meets the needs of New York City's unique density and geography. They have created a model system using shipping containers, and while it will not be able to help those left homeless by Sandy, it should be ready by next year, for when the next major disaster hits.