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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... View full entry
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... View full entry
“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... View full entry
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. — qz.com
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. View full entry
“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... View full entry
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. — the Verge
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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?” — Al-Akhbar
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.
— AP
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... View full entry
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. — architectureforhumanity.org
Donate now and help support Architecture for Humanity's response in the typhoon-affected region. #Typhoonhaiyan View full entry
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
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. — New York Observer
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... View full entry
