Adam Price

Arthur Pauwels
Nico Sikens
Patrizia DOlivo
Xavier Huyghe
shelter
The Emergency House
Introduction
To start the project of we had to implement the following key words into the design. The used materials have to be renewable and
biodegradable, but still have to be strong and resilient enough to last the 3 years set for the shelter to be used.
Key Words
Shelters, emergency houses, honeycomb carton board, moisture resistance, fire retardant, compact transport, lightweight,
strong stable & rigid, easy to assemble, biodegradable, environmental, sustainable, printable, total solution, thermal insulation
(U-value), acoustic insulation (R-value)
Problem definition
It concerns a radical design to develop shelters (emergency houses), in different variants (dimensions, compartments, designs,
etc) made from the Europal/Bee honeycomb carton board panels. The aim is to come to a total solution packet, which is easy to
transport to the emergency areas and easy to install (4 5 hours/shelter).The final solutions need to meet following (technical)
properties: moisture resistant (outside), UV-resistant (outside), fire retardant (inside), strong/stable/rigid, easy to install, environ-
mental & sustainable, total solution, industrial production, low cost, thermal insulation, acoustic insulation.
Objectives
The objective is to come with a (total) solution/application of shelters which fulfill the above mentioned properties and which is
ready to start with the initial production to take the shelters on stock, with all necessary drawings, specifications, calculations ,
product list, packaging box, installation manual, thermal & acoustic insulation values.
A final (and maybe intermediate) prototype of the shelter (with material from
Europal/BEE) to validate the development.
Results
As the result section is the core bone of the document i am going to divide it up into two parts: The Material and Structure/design
part.
Material
FLOOR
As the surface of the shelter needs to have the following properties:
Moisture resistance, fire retardant, compact transport, lightweight, strong stable & rigid, easy to assemble, biodegrada-
ble, environmental, sustainable, total solution, thermal insulation (U-value), acoustic insulation (R-value) (The words in
Bold are the most important properties for the floor)
So the designers looked into the options they had to make sure all these properties where being accounted for in the shelter design.
As the team was going by all the available materials, the most usable materials were being compared to each other the following
document was made.
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http://design.edf.com
1st Edition
Duralmond is a composite material obtained from crushed almond shells mixed with resins. The result is biodegradable and
recyclable. An effective alternative to wood, Duralmond can be considered truly environment-friendly as it does not require trees to
be felled. Duralmond is an ideal material for both its aesthetic characteristics and its functional virtues it is water-repellent, resistant
to insects and other biotic agents, has good thermal and acoustic characteristics and is sufficiently fireproof. Several finishes of the
surface are possible, from imitation wood and concrete to single-colour gloss lacquers.
Miscanthus Biopolymer. The three meter high Miscanthus plant, or Elephant grass, is a renewable material for different
lightweight purposes in the building industry. This material is the biopolymer application of Miscanthus combined with colza oil as
a highly biodegradable plastic. The photos shows on the right is an example of a biodegradable flower pot.
Benefits of the Miscanthus as a raw material:
> high capacity of sound absorption
> good thermal insulation
> 100% chemical free
> 80% weight reduction compared to concrete
WALLS / ROOF
As the surface of the shelter needs to have the following properties:
Moisture resistance, fire retardant, compact transport, lightweight, strong stable & rigid, easy to assemble, biodegra-
dable, environmental, sustainable, total solution, thermal insulation (U-value), acoustic insulation (R-value) (The words
in Bold are the most important properties for the walls and roof)
For the walls and the roof we use explicitly honeycomb cardboard that Europal/Bee makes. It is a 10 millimeter in thickness and
has a hardened top surface so it would be waterproof. It is used in the entire shelter so it needs to be
SEEMS
As the surface of the shelter needs to have the following properties:
Moisture resistance, fire retardant, compact transport, lightweight, strong stable & rigid, easy to assemble, biodegra-
dable, environmental, sustainable, total solution, thermal insulation (U-value), acoustic insulation (R-value) (The words
in Bold are the most important properties for the seems)
To make the shelter big enough, unfortunately there are going to be seems and cracks that need to be filled in. to connect 2
cardboard plates together and making it strong enough so it can take the strain of the ropes pulling of it.
ENTERING / EXITING THE SHELTER
As the surface of the shelter needs to have the following properties:
Moisture resistance, fire retardant, compact transport, lightweight, strong stable & rigid, easy to assemble, biodegra-
dable, environmental, sustainable, total solution, thermal insulation (U-value), acoustic insulation (R-value) (The words
in Bold are the most important properties for the entrance/exit )
To enter and exit the shelter the front and back of the structure is open. To make it wind and weather tight to the users it is going
to be closable by a jute cloth. Jute is a natural material that is after cotton the most used fabric in the world. The jute is also
used as rope to tie the structure together. One side of the shelter is going to be filled with cardboard plates and the other side
with the above.

Structure/design
TENSION
To make the structure as strong as possible we are going to be using the method of tensioning the structure with rope (jute
rope in this case). To the design within the lines of renewable and biodegradable materials the rope is going to be made of
jute, just like the fabric used for the entrance/exit. This type of structure with an integrity based on a balance between tension
and compression components is named Tensegrity or tensional integrity. In a tensegrity structure the compressive members
are connected to each other by tensile member.
FORM
The form of the shelter is based on the ancient Chinese technique of folding paper, Origami. By using folds and triangles we
always get the most out of the cardboard strength wise. The structure is made so that theres never a flat enough surface so
wind can deform the shelter.
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