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Thesis

Keyt

Hello, I'm a college student seeking critiques or insight from you on my chosen topic for thesis "shelter pods" that can serve as a quarantine shelters for today's pandemic and can also be used to shelter evacuees during calamities. I need your critiques or insights so i can improve this or change it to a better one before i propose this topic to my prof. Thanks 

 
Aug 4, 20 12:50 pm
tduds

It's a common & at times trendy project. Not that that makes it bad, or good, just that your prof has most likely seen it already. It's possible to make up for a trendy idea with a great design, so you've got your work cut out for you.

Beyond that you haven't given us enough info to give constructive feedback.

Aug 4, 20 12:53 pm  · 
1  · 
Non Sequitur

it's a popular subject... loads of examples available if you spend a few minutes doing research.  

What you need to do is develop an intelligent and reasonably unique thesis to go along with the subject.

Aug 4, 20 12:58 pm  · 
2  · 
chris-chitect

I remember this sort of thing in my program ten years ago. Whenever a disaster or crisis hit, students and professors were suddenly interested in deployable pods to come to the rescue.

Ikea also gave it a go, and I think there were several articles out there about how it was a bit of a flop. In the case of temporary shelters, there's often a one size fits all approach that is better than sleeping under the stars, but doesn't consider that most "temporary" structures end up being used for far longer than intended, and often aren't culturally appropriate. 

I agree with Non Sequitur, you'll need to be very specific. I did my thesis in pre-fab for permanent housing and it was enough of a challenge even when I had a very specific site and method that I thought was unique.

Check of the company "Weatherhaven". We had a field trip there. They primarily work on deployable hospitals for the military, but take on some other needs as well. There's a lot of money in this as well (juicy military and defence contracts), and thus I imagine a sufficient amount of innovation to find efficiencies and figure out the entire life cycle from concept, to transport, to set up, to re-use. 

You could be onto a great idea, but you'll have to think of how you're unique and better than a big player like Weatherhaven. 


Aug 6, 20 3:30 pm  · 
1  · 
tduds

My thesis started as pre-fab housing and I got so discouraged by all the tried-and-failed precedents I found during our research term that I ended up designing the factory instead.

Aug 6, 20 4:15 pm  · 
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chris-chitect

Ha, to this day I'd still like to create my own pre-fab startup, but pretty much every pre-fab company fails. If it's featured in DWELL magazine as a hot new product you can bet it's bankrupt a few years later .

Aug 6, 20 7:54 pm  · 
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