Many Floridians who lived in Homestead Miami in 1992 still remember Hurricane Andrew, originally a category 4, but recatagorized ten years later as a category 5 hurricane, the highest rated storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. This storm leveled the Homestead area leaving in its wake thousands with out homes and power and many dead.
Hurricane Andrew hit almost 17 years ago, and it’s only a matter of time before another storm of this magnitude hits the state of Florida. According to the United States Landfalling Hurricane Web Project, Broward County Florida, has a 46.1% probability of one or more named storms making landfall in the region, of that number 18.3% have the probability of being intense storms with winds of 130mph and a storm surge of 13-18 feet. According to the project this is one of the highest rated areas for storm activity along the east coast.
Having experienced Hurricane Wilma first hand in 2004 I can relate to the feeling of loss after a storm. It also opened my eyes to the need to develop a plan to react after a strike. Families who have lost their home need a place to live and rebuild with running water and electricity. Usually the families affected the most are ones in economically depressed areas of a county or state. In Broward’s case that would be the unincorporated communities like Roosevelt Gardens, Boulevard Gardens, Franklin Park, Broadview Park and Washington Park. The average Home Income in Roosevelt Gardens is roughly $19,000 a year, while the typical home in the neighborhood in 2007 was listed at about $150,000(was $65,000 in 2000). These communities already suffer from an existing affordable housing issue.
If a serious hurricane were to move through an area like this one serious damage would inevitably occur displacing hundreds of families. Seeing a need prior to a problem and then solving it is key. By designing a generic core like The {s.e.e.d.} Shelter and having a series of additive parts developable into the. The {s.e.e.d} Home could also allow for more than problem to be solved. The {s.e.e.d} Home would then also be a viable alternative for affordable housing programs.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Chapter 2.1
Its 2009 and New Orleans is still cleaning up after Hurricane Katrina. All it takes is one strong hurricane hitting a populated area to cause serious damage. People are still living with friends or relatives, a few have returned to rebuild, but many have not returned at all. Though we cannot go back and undo what happened there, we can, however, prepare for the inevitable next storm.
Looking at the East coast of the United States you see some main places of interest for potential hurricane landfall, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Occasionally storms reach upwards into the northeastern states, but because of the cooler water there and the prevailing winds storms are less likely to be as violent as they are along the southern coastal portion of the United States. As far as costal states are concerned, Florida seems to be the most likely candidate for a serious hurricane strike. The last hurricane that caused serious damage was Wilma, and although it was only a category 2 hurricane it caused a great deal wind damage across Broward County creating widespread power outages that lasted for almost 3 weeks. The National Guard was brought in to provide aid to the communities through out Broward and even into portions of Miami- Dade County.
Seeing first hand the devastation a small storm can cause in such a hurricane prone area is enough for me to want to act. It’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed. The preparedness of the government to act quickly is imperative to the recovery of any costal community.
Looking at the East coast of the United States you see some main places of interest for potential hurricane landfall, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Occasionally storms reach upwards into the northeastern states, but because of the cooler water there and the prevailing winds storms are less likely to be as violent as they are along the southern coastal portion of the United States. As far as costal states are concerned, Florida seems to be the most likely candidate for a serious hurricane strike. The last hurricane that caused serious damage was Wilma, and although it was only a category 2 hurricane it caused a great deal wind damage across Broward County creating widespread power outages that lasted for almost 3 weeks. The National Guard was brought in to provide aid to the communities through out Broward and even into portions of Miami- Dade County.
Seeing first hand the devastation a small storm can cause in such a hurricane prone area is enough for me to want to act. It’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed. The preparedness of the government to act quickly is imperative to the recovery of any costal community.
Chapter 1.4
Understanding the fundamentals of shelter are not as simple as one would think. It’s not as simple as the definition it’s given, a place of refuge, or just a structure that provides cover from the elements. It needs to be something that instills a sense of place in a person, while also providing the basic needs of a shelter. Past shelters, like that of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) original canvas flap tent design used around the world in times of need, have been built out of treated canvas and wood. The disadvantage is that they deteriorate quickly and are not easily transported. So what is the best shelter design? To design a shelter properly, efficiently, and most importantly, user friendly, the architect must take many factors into consideration. For example, what is the spaces function, how much will it cost, how large does it need to be, and especially, what is its intended length of use? This section will explore past attempts by other architects, and designers of disaster aid shelter to better understand the product as a whole, so as to guide future designs.
UNHRC’s Lightweight Emergency Tent
Currently the UNHRC provides a “…rigid-style or typical center-pole double-fly tent made of canvas.” Due to the materials used the tents are prone to rot and cannot be kept in mass storage for any length of time. Many attempts to re-invent the tent have popped up over the years but most are cost prohibitive, or do not comply with the UNHRC’s guide to emergency materials . Recently a new addition has been added to the arsenal of relief efforts, called the Lightweight Emergency Tent, designed by Ghassem Fardanesh with a cost of approximately $100 each. The tent is 178 square feet, with dimensions of 18’x9.8’x6.9’. It can hold four to five people and, in its compact form, weighs 91 pounds, a manageable size for one grown man to move. In 2002 the unit went into testing and is regularly dispatched to regions in need.
The design uses a tubular shape maximizing the space within the tent. It also provides the inhabitants with some air ventilation, by way of window vents, is lined at the bottom to seal and protect the inhabitants from the ground, while staying waterproof and keeping the interior dry. One of the most important, though simple, additions from the original canvas tent is the privacy flap. It may not important, but the flap eliminates some of the exploitive issues that plague refugee camps, and lessens the likelihood of physical abuse to women and children.
The agency has demonstrated interest in the Emergency Tent and has put 10,000 units into production for testing, though it may be a long time until the new tent is put into full use as their main refugee shelter.
Grip Clips
Though Robert Gills’ Grip Clips are not technically a shelter by themselves, they illustrate how something simple can make a huge impact on a design idea. The Grip Clip is made up of two pieces of interlocking plastic that attach a canvas skin or plastic material to any type of interior structure with out needing to break the seal of the cloth. The interior of the clip attaches its self via twine, zip tie, or metal strap to any interior ribbing structure. The exterior section of the clip is then attached over top of the cloth and rotated, locking the bottom half into place. This simplistic design effort “…reduces the shelter to its most fundamental element, the connection between the sheathing and the part…”
Manufactured by Shelter Systems, a set of four plastic clips cost approximately $8 to $10 dollars, a minimum price for maximum design. The original design was patented in 1979 by Robert Gills and has been in use around the world in a variety of relief efforts.
Global Village Shelters
The Global Village shelter, gives off the appearance of what a child would draw of as representative of a house. Despite its simplicity, the small shelters are quite durable and more than adequate in their use. The design has developed over the course of about ten years by Ferrara Design, Inc., by Daniel Ferrara and his daughter, Mia Ferrara. The unit costs about $400, is designed for a lifespan of about 8-12 months, but has withstood several consecutive winters in Ferrara’s backyard in Connecticut, a personal proving ground of sorts. The Unit is made up of corrugated cardboard, infused with a fire resistant coating. The simple design is present in the building of each unit, using only simple tools and some human effort. Unfortunately the units extended life span is something of concern according to the UNHRC the
shelter is “…designed ‘to last too long.’” If a shelter lasts to long it can lead to a cycle of poverty and has a habit of making people over stay their time in a unit. Since the portable homes can only be able to ship 88 units per shipping container, versus the 500 to 1000 tents per container, a clear cost-effectiveness issue arises.
Despite some of its downfalls the Global Village Shelter is in field-testing use in Grenada after a powerful hurricane swept through, destroying 85% of the island’s housing. In a design partnership with Arquitectonica of Miami and Grenada Relief, Recovery, and Reconstruction [G3], a total of 70 shelters were distributed to needy families on the island, serving as transitional homes, and health clinics.15
Through the study of these designs, their flaws, their accomplishments, and their construction methods a better design is achieved in future attempts. They create an understanding of the dialogue in which designers of emergency shelters speak, the understanding of the human condition, and its needs. By speaking that dialogue a better product is then created furthering the reach of aid to those in need.
Le Corbusier and Adaptive Dwellings
In the early 1900’s Le Corbusier began paving the way for modular design. Through his efforts in the designing adaptive dwellings for the various classes of society he produced a theory about the advantages of using “rationalize production methods for the general provision of shelter” . One such project was the Villa Radieuse.(or VR). Though the project was not designed in a kit of parts fashion, it was an excellent prototype for modular design. The project consisted of a continuous band of ‘on-line’ housing. This housing system was at its roots modular, and the system was engineered to optimize very square inch of inhabitable space. The VR building type was clearly oriented to reflect a more economic basis for home design through the use of production style methods, and theories from that project can be modified and adapted to any production based human-needs shelter project.
Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House
The idea of mass production design, like Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, were for many years a side note in architectural design since the days of Henry Ford’s mass production of the automobile. His streamlining of the manufacturing process was a revolutionary idea that changed the building of every product in the United States with one exception, the home. The modular home was investigated by numerous architects, but was secluded to strictly mobile homes and trailer parks, and was, and still is, looked down on by most homeowners as a cheap alternative to housing, but this is far from true.
Buckminster Fullers’ ideas in 1927 were far ahead of their time. His love of manufacturing and engineering created some of the most advanced homes of the 20th century. The earliest modular home designed around a “kit of parts” so to speak, would be Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House. His design incorporated things as advanced as automatic doors, “light tube” style lighting, and use of natural energy. You could even argue that Mr. Fuller was one of the first to pioneer the uses of environmental design in his buildings.
The Dymaxion House, and predecessors like the Dymaxion Deployment Unit, are some of the most well thought out prefabricated houses to this day. During design development Fuller kept some simple but important considerations:
1. Mass Production
2. Package Distribution
3. Quick Erection
4. Low Cost
5. Flexible Orientation
6. Fire Resistance
7. Conclusion Resistance
8. Air Protection
9. Demountability
These simple design rules allowed Fuller to design an inexpensive modular shelter that reused material from other structures (in this case converted grain bins) to create a structure that is comfortable, durable, and one that will last. Using these rules for designing a structure for disaster relief is clearly apparent, and can be a great asset to any designer’s toolset.
Current Mass Production
Methodologies
The home building process is an incredibly in depth process. In the early days, the architect was no more than a master builder. They had to have the all of the knowledge of how a building was put together. However today, a master builder is no longer a master, but more like a group of masters, who collectively put together a building. It takes an Architect, a Product Engineer, a Builder, a Material Scientist, an Electrical Engineer, an HVAC Engineer… An Architect has to streamline this entire process, and make it work and with all these different builders and engineers its amazing that anything gets built at all.
There are over 81 different product production methods available to more than just industrial designers. With so many production types out there one would think the home would have been, by this day in age, mass produced, like that of a car. According to “…Daimler/Chrysler, a process engineer divides the car into constituent chunks, or modules.” They are built by production teams and assembled, sometimes off site, and then shipped to the final assembly line. If this is the case, then the pieces of a building could also be designed similar to those of a car and then shipped to the main build area. If a home can be designed in a series of interchangeable pieces that could be shipped to a site, the construction of that building would take a third of the time it would normally take using less man power and keeping waste production to a minimum.
Katrina Cottage
Current production designed homes on the market have been developed for a small set of consumers, the private owner who wants a custom home that is modular in nature, the mobile home consumer, and the government, (for housing aid purposes), as well as other smaller groups of consumers.
The disaster relief aid sector has been trying to change, but is slow to adopt new designs. The hurricane Katrina relief efforts consisted of mobile home trailers, costing $70,000 each. Late 2005 an alternative to the FEMA trailer was introduced, called the Katrina Cottage. This small cottage is not a new idea, and a similar design was built after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake when six thousand two room homes were built to replace the army tents provided by the government. Unfortunately the new Katrina Cottage costs $60,000. Though its already $10,000 less than the FEMA trailer, its not nearly cheap enough. The 650sqft home costs around $100 a square foot and is built using pre-manufactured walls, shipped and erected on site. However a good builder can produce a home for roughly $40 a square foot, with all the amenities of your average house. This is an excellent response to the call for new production homes, post hurricane Katrina but more needs to be done, and these homes are not easily expandable.
Hive Modular
The recent development of larger scale modular design projects has become popular over the past few years. Economically they should be more affordable and easier to produce. Hive Modular, an architectural firm out of Minneapolis, Minnesota has been receiving some publicity for their highly modifiable modular homes. The firm has four different modular design units, each with multiple variations of the same unit.
These various shape configurations allow for a very dynamic product, but as the design becomes more custom it also becomes harder to ship and to place on site. It needs to have a slab or footing poured before being mounted in place, but when this is accomplished it can be erected with in three to five days. Most of these cumbersome modular designed homes require a great deal of energy to move and need a crane to place them. On top of that they also cost between two and three hundred thousand dollars plus the price of the site. This makes them a poor choice in times of need because they are so hard to move and place. The Idea of customization is essential to the development of the individuals desire to make a place for themselves. As the person is included in the design or even choosing from a series of options for their home, they become attached to it and over time it then becomes home.
UNHRC’s Lightweight Emergency Tent
Currently the UNHRC provides a “…rigid-style or typical center-pole double-fly tent made of canvas.” Due to the materials used the tents are prone to rot and cannot be kept in mass storage for any length of time. Many attempts to re-invent the tent have popped up over the years but most are cost prohibitive, or do not comply with the UNHRC’s guide to emergency materials . Recently a new addition has been added to the arsenal of relief efforts, called the Lightweight Emergency Tent, designed by Ghassem Fardanesh with a cost of approximately $100 each. The tent is 178 square feet, with dimensions of 18’x9.8’x6.9’. It can hold four to five people and, in its compact form, weighs 91 pounds, a manageable size for one grown man to move. In 2002 the unit went into testing and is regularly dispatched to regions in need.
The design uses a tubular shape maximizing the space within the tent. It also provides the inhabitants with some air ventilation, by way of window vents, is lined at the bottom to seal and protect the inhabitants from the ground, while staying waterproof and keeping the interior dry. One of the most important, though simple, additions from the original canvas tent is the privacy flap. It may not important, but the flap eliminates some of the exploitive issues that plague refugee camps, and lessens the likelihood of physical abuse to women and children.
The agency has demonstrated interest in the Emergency Tent and has put 10,000 units into production for testing, though it may be a long time until the new tent is put into full use as their main refugee shelter.
Grip Clips
Though Robert Gills’ Grip Clips are not technically a shelter by themselves, they illustrate how something simple can make a huge impact on a design idea. The Grip Clip is made up of two pieces of interlocking plastic that attach a canvas skin or plastic material to any type of interior structure with out needing to break the seal of the cloth. The interior of the clip attaches its self via twine, zip tie, or metal strap to any interior ribbing structure. The exterior section of the clip is then attached over top of the cloth and rotated, locking the bottom half into place. This simplistic design effort “…reduces the shelter to its most fundamental element, the connection between the sheathing and the part…”
Manufactured by Shelter Systems, a set of four plastic clips cost approximately $8 to $10 dollars, a minimum price for maximum design. The original design was patented in 1979 by Robert Gills and has been in use around the world in a variety of relief efforts.
Global Village Shelters
The Global Village shelter, gives off the appearance of what a child would draw of as representative of a house. Despite its simplicity, the small shelters are quite durable and more than adequate in their use. The design has developed over the course of about ten years by Ferrara Design, Inc., by Daniel Ferrara and his daughter, Mia Ferrara. The unit costs about $400, is designed for a lifespan of about 8-12 months, but has withstood several consecutive winters in Ferrara’s backyard in Connecticut, a personal proving ground of sorts. The Unit is made up of corrugated cardboard, infused with a fire resistant coating. The simple design is present in the building of each unit, using only simple tools and some human effort. Unfortunately the units extended life span is something of concern according to the UNHRC the
shelter is “…designed ‘to last too long.’” If a shelter lasts to long it can lead to a cycle of poverty and has a habit of making people over stay their time in a unit. Since the portable homes can only be able to ship 88 units per shipping container, versus the 500 to 1000 tents per container, a clear cost-effectiveness issue arises.
Despite some of its downfalls the Global Village Shelter is in field-testing use in Grenada after a powerful hurricane swept through, destroying 85% of the island’s housing. In a design partnership with Arquitectonica of Miami and Grenada Relief, Recovery, and Reconstruction [G3], a total of 70 shelters were distributed to needy families on the island, serving as transitional homes, and health clinics.15
Through the study of these designs, their flaws, their accomplishments, and their construction methods a better design is achieved in future attempts. They create an understanding of the dialogue in which designers of emergency shelters speak, the understanding of the human condition, and its needs. By speaking that dialogue a better product is then created furthering the reach of aid to those in need.
Le Corbusier and Adaptive Dwellings
In the early 1900’s Le Corbusier began paving the way for modular design. Through his efforts in the designing adaptive dwellings for the various classes of society he produced a theory about the advantages of using “rationalize production methods for the general provision of shelter” . One such project was the Villa Radieuse.(or VR). Though the project was not designed in a kit of parts fashion, it was an excellent prototype for modular design. The project consisted of a continuous band of ‘on-line’ housing. This housing system was at its roots modular, and the system was engineered to optimize very square inch of inhabitable space. The VR building type was clearly oriented to reflect a more economic basis for home design through the use of production style methods, and theories from that project can be modified and adapted to any production based human-needs shelter project.
Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House
The idea of mass production design, like Le Corbusier’s Ville Radieuse, were for many years a side note in architectural design since the days of Henry Ford’s mass production of the automobile. His streamlining of the manufacturing process was a revolutionary idea that changed the building of every product in the United States with one exception, the home. The modular home was investigated by numerous architects, but was secluded to strictly mobile homes and trailer parks, and was, and still is, looked down on by most homeowners as a cheap alternative to housing, but this is far from true.
Buckminster Fullers’ ideas in 1927 were far ahead of their time. His love of manufacturing and engineering created some of the most advanced homes of the 20th century. The earliest modular home designed around a “kit of parts” so to speak, would be Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House. His design incorporated things as advanced as automatic doors, “light tube” style lighting, and use of natural energy. You could even argue that Mr. Fuller was one of the first to pioneer the uses of environmental design in his buildings.
The Dymaxion House, and predecessors like the Dymaxion Deployment Unit, are some of the most well thought out prefabricated houses to this day. During design development Fuller kept some simple but important considerations:
1. Mass Production
2. Package Distribution
3. Quick Erection
4. Low Cost
5. Flexible Orientation
6. Fire Resistance
7. Conclusion Resistance
8. Air Protection
9. Demountability
These simple design rules allowed Fuller to design an inexpensive modular shelter that reused material from other structures (in this case converted grain bins) to create a structure that is comfortable, durable, and one that will last. Using these rules for designing a structure for disaster relief is clearly apparent, and can be a great asset to any designer’s toolset.
Current Mass Production
Methodologies
The home building process is an incredibly in depth process. In the early days, the architect was no more than a master builder. They had to have the all of the knowledge of how a building was put together. However today, a master builder is no longer a master, but more like a group of masters, who collectively put together a building. It takes an Architect, a Product Engineer, a Builder, a Material Scientist, an Electrical Engineer, an HVAC Engineer… An Architect has to streamline this entire process, and make it work and with all these different builders and engineers its amazing that anything gets built at all.
There are over 81 different product production methods available to more than just industrial designers. With so many production types out there one would think the home would have been, by this day in age, mass produced, like that of a car. According to “…Daimler/Chrysler, a process engineer divides the car into constituent chunks, or modules.” They are built by production teams and assembled, sometimes off site, and then shipped to the final assembly line. If this is the case, then the pieces of a building could also be designed similar to those of a car and then shipped to the main build area. If a home can be designed in a series of interchangeable pieces that could be shipped to a site, the construction of that building would take a third of the time it would normally take using less man power and keeping waste production to a minimum.
Katrina Cottage
Current production designed homes on the market have been developed for a small set of consumers, the private owner who wants a custom home that is modular in nature, the mobile home consumer, and the government, (for housing aid purposes), as well as other smaller groups of consumers.
The disaster relief aid sector has been trying to change, but is slow to adopt new designs. The hurricane Katrina relief efforts consisted of mobile home trailers, costing $70,000 each. Late 2005 an alternative to the FEMA trailer was introduced, called the Katrina Cottage. This small cottage is not a new idea, and a similar design was built after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake when six thousand two room homes were built to replace the army tents provided by the government. Unfortunately the new Katrina Cottage costs $60,000. Though its already $10,000 less than the FEMA trailer, its not nearly cheap enough. The 650sqft home costs around $100 a square foot and is built using pre-manufactured walls, shipped and erected on site. However a good builder can produce a home for roughly $40 a square foot, with all the amenities of your average house. This is an excellent response to the call for new production homes, post hurricane Katrina but more needs to be done, and these homes are not easily expandable.
Hive Modular
The recent development of larger scale modular design projects has become popular over the past few years. Economically they should be more affordable and easier to produce. Hive Modular, an architectural firm out of Minneapolis, Minnesota has been receiving some publicity for their highly modifiable modular homes. The firm has four different modular design units, each with multiple variations of the same unit.
These various shape configurations allow for a very dynamic product, but as the design becomes more custom it also becomes harder to ship and to place on site. It needs to have a slab or footing poured before being mounted in place, but when this is accomplished it can be erected with in three to five days. Most of these cumbersome modular designed homes require a great deal of energy to move and need a crane to place them. On top of that they also cost between two and three hundred thousand dollars plus the price of the site. This makes them a poor choice in times of need because they are so hard to move and place. The Idea of customization is essential to the development of the individuals desire to make a place for themselves. As the person is included in the design or even choosing from a series of options for their home, they become attached to it and over time it then becomes home.
Chapter 1.3
In the United States, hurricanes are one of the most vicious, and damaging of all natural disasters. These storms cause flooding, severe wind damage, erosion to costal shorelines and damage to property. With an ever-increasing population along the East Coast and Gulf Coast regions of the United States the need for preparedness is evident.
Hurricane Katrina:
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, and was a natural disaster of epic proportions. It caused a total of 81 billion dollars in damage, as the storm made landfall in Louisiana, and move Northeast over the United States. It left 101,900 people in its wake, housed “temporarily” in 37,745 FEMA mobile home trailers. This storm is clear evidence of the need for a predetermined relief strategy, especially in the area of housing and shelter. After Katrina struck FEMA was there, but arrived late. A 72-hour response time is standard for FEMA, but this was clearly not an appropriate response. The need for a 24-hour minimum response after the storm passed became evident, and expected by those victims caught in the aftermath. Most disturbing was the lack of shelter response by FEMA. As soon as the waters receded, clearing and rebuilding should have taken place and a shelter for each individual should have been provided immediately to all who required it.
Hurricane Ike:
Late 2008 Hurricane Ike began to form off the Cape Verde islands. Early on this storm had a clear development and was becoming a serious threat to the United States. September 10th President George W. Bush declared an emergency for the state of Texas in advance of Hurricane Ike. The Morning of September 13th the storm approached Galveston Island and made land fall the next morning at 2:10am.
Hurricane Ike was the third most devastating storm in U.S. History, coming in behind Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew with 31.4 billion dollars in damages and 71 deaths. The storm nearly wiped out the barrier island area of Galveston Texas with a storm surge 17feet and waves reaching upwards of 23 feet. This devastating storm ripped through the area also affecting places as far as Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Indiana causing widespread power outs and wind damage.
Ike finally dissipated on September 16th, 2008. It left in its wake massive flooding and damages throughout the gulf coast region of Texas. The storm left many in a strenuous position looking for shelter with friend’s relatives or living in hotels until they can begin rebuilding the area.
F.E.M.A. has however, learned from their mistakes, they acted more quickly with food, water and aid to victims of Ike. The most recent estimations of damage from F.E.M.A is in the range of 1.9billion dollars in financial aid to disaster victims. Some of that money “More than $60 million (number adjusted to correct reporting error) for short-term, transitional sheltering in hotels/motels for eligible applicants. Some 4,452 eligible individuals and families are still participating in the program.” They have also made 2806 manufactured housing units available to families in need.
Hurricane Katrina:
Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005, and was a natural disaster of epic proportions. It caused a total of 81 billion dollars in damage, as the storm made landfall in Louisiana, and move Northeast over the United States. It left 101,900 people in its wake, housed “temporarily” in 37,745 FEMA mobile home trailers. This storm is clear evidence of the need for a predetermined relief strategy, especially in the area of housing and shelter. After Katrina struck FEMA was there, but arrived late. A 72-hour response time is standard for FEMA, but this was clearly not an appropriate response. The need for a 24-hour minimum response after the storm passed became evident, and expected by those victims caught in the aftermath. Most disturbing was the lack of shelter response by FEMA. As soon as the waters receded, clearing and rebuilding should have taken place and a shelter for each individual should have been provided immediately to all who required it.
Hurricane Ike:
Late 2008 Hurricane Ike began to form off the Cape Verde islands. Early on this storm had a clear development and was becoming a serious threat to the United States. September 10th President George W. Bush declared an emergency for the state of Texas in advance of Hurricane Ike. The Morning of September 13th the storm approached Galveston Island and made land fall the next morning at 2:10am.
Hurricane Ike was the third most devastating storm in U.S. History, coming in behind Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew with 31.4 billion dollars in damages and 71 deaths. The storm nearly wiped out the barrier island area of Galveston Texas with a storm surge 17feet and waves reaching upwards of 23 feet. This devastating storm ripped through the area also affecting places as far as Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Indiana causing widespread power outs and wind damage.
Ike finally dissipated on September 16th, 2008. It left in its wake massive flooding and damages throughout the gulf coast region of Texas. The storm left many in a strenuous position looking for shelter with friend’s relatives or living in hotels until they can begin rebuilding the area.
F.E.M.A. has however, learned from their mistakes, they acted more quickly with food, water and aid to victims of Ike. The most recent estimations of damage from F.E.M.A is in the range of 1.9billion dollars in financial aid to disaster victims. Some of that money “More than $60 million (number adjusted to correct reporting error) for short-term, transitional sheltering in hotels/motels for eligible applicants. Some 4,452 eligible individuals and families are still participating in the program.” They have also made 2806 manufactured housing units available to families in need.
Chapter 1.2
Between 1900 and 2005 in the United States there have been 207 hurricanes to make landfall somewhere along the eastern seaboard and gulf coast. The estimated average total damages at that rate should put the U.S. at a total of 500billion dollars by they year 2020, and that number is an average outlook based on the overall numbers provided in the Natural Hazards Review ASCE as of February 2005. These numbers should be reason enough to prepare a serious housing plan for post hurricane relief efforts.
For the past 200 years Emergency Relief efforts have existed in one form or another. Before the 1930’s legislation passed more than 100 times for some form of compensation due to natural disaster. It wasn’t until 1932 did a government organization exist to address this situation. President Herbert Hoover commissioned the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932 to lend money to banks and institutions to stimulate economy activity in the wake of a disaster. The next form of government aid didn’t show up for another thirty years. In the 60’s and 70’s the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, was created and oversaw hurricane related disasters until 1979 when it was turned into FEMA by President Jimmy Carter under Reorganization Plan No. 3, put into action April 1,1970. FEMA absorbed both the HUD and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation along with a number of other government organizations that were developed to respond in the wake of a disaster.
For the past 200 years Emergency Relief efforts have existed in one form or another. Before the 1930’s legislation passed more than 100 times for some form of compensation due to natural disaster. It wasn’t until 1932 did a government organization exist to address this situation. President Herbert Hoover commissioned the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in 1932 to lend money to banks and institutions to stimulate economy activity in the wake of a disaster. The next form of government aid didn’t show up for another thirty years. In the 60’s and 70’s the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, was created and oversaw hurricane related disasters until 1979 when it was turned into FEMA by President Jimmy Carter under Reorganization Plan No. 3, put into action April 1,1970. FEMA absorbed both the HUD and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation along with a number of other government organizations that were developed to respond in the wake of a disaster.
Chapter 1.1
This thesis proposes desgning an emergency shelter that provides a sense of place to those who have lost almost everything. This structure is referred to as a s.e.e.d. shelter. The acronym s.e.e.d. stands for Sustainably Engineered Environment Development Shelter. The overall goal of The s.e.e.d. is to help provide a solution to the ongoing problem with the relief strategy currently in use in the United States. The existing system, which puts families in portable trailer homes for extended periods of time, doesn’t work. Although the s.e.e.d. does not attempt solve the entire issue, it may be a possible design solution to the housing issue and can lead to helping others and the eventual re-working of the existing relief strategy employed.
These sustainable structures will be designed in a quickly produced, non-costly pre-manufactured fashion. They will be adaptable based on needs of the area suffering, and expandable based on the needs of the family. This temporary shelter would allow for the growth of a new structure on an existing site and allow for a small group of people with limited knowledge of construction the ability to erect it quickly. Each s.e.e.d. will provide a platform to add to it as the needs of the structure or the needs of the family change.
This developmental structure would be made up of two developable parts and require a minimum group effort from the community or relief efforts group. The {s.e.e.d.} Shelter would be the core unit to the larger built structure. This larger structure or The {s.e.e.d.} Home would then be built around the core structure and develop the home on a family needs basis. It could then create a way for the family to get involved quickly in the rebuilding of their own home as well as other homes in the neighborhood. The {s.e.e.d.} System will allow for a new sense of place to be re-rooted in both that of the family and of the community.
These sustainable structures will be designed in a quickly produced, non-costly pre-manufactured fashion. They will be adaptable based on needs of the area suffering, and expandable based on the needs of the family. This temporary shelter would allow for the growth of a new structure on an existing site and allow for a small group of people with limited knowledge of construction the ability to erect it quickly. Each s.e.e.d. will provide a platform to add to it as the needs of the structure or the needs of the family change.
This developmental structure would be made up of two developable parts and require a minimum group effort from the community or relief efforts group. The {s.e.e.d.} Shelter would be the core unit to the larger built structure. This larger structure or The {s.e.e.d.} Home would then be built around the core structure and develop the home on a family needs basis. It could then create a way for the family to get involved quickly in the rebuilding of their own home as well as other homes in the neighborhood. The {s.e.e.d.} System will allow for a new sense of place to be re-rooted in both that of the family and of the community.
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