Reflexiones sobre refugios para alojar evacuados

Santa Fe

A LA VERA DE LA RUTA 168

Ya construyen refugios para alojar evacuados

En una primera etapa se reubicará a 20 familias de La vuelta del Paraguayo. Aún no hay fecha prevista para iniciar el traslado.

Características. Los módulos serán de 3,10 por 4,20, tendrán una estructura de madera, cerramiento multilaminado fenólico y techo de chapa galvanizada. Foto: Gentileza Municipalidad de Santa Fe

Casa Diogene. Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano has become the latest high-profile architect to add a building to the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, by completing a tiny wooden cabin with room for just a single inhabitant.

The one-room hut is named Diogene, after a Greek philosopher who rejected luxury and chose to live in a barrel, and is intended as a self-sufficient hideaway that can be used as a workplace or as a weekend home.

Renzo Piano first presented his idea for the minimal home in a 2009 edition of architectural magaine Abitare, proposing a living space of around two by two metres, with enough space for a bed, a chair and a small table. Following the publication, Piano was commissioned by Rolf Fehlbaum, chairman of furniture brand Vitra, to develop the project.

“This little house is the final result of a long, long journey partially driven by desires and dreams, but also by technicality and a scientific approach,” says Piano.

The completed cabin is presented as an experimental concept rather than a finished product. Its exterior is clad with aluminium panels to protect it from the elements and it uses solar panels, rainwater collection and a biological toilet to satisfy the usual requirements for electricity and water.

A pull-out sofa is fitted on one side of the space, while a folding table is slotted beneath the window and a shower, toilet and kitchen are also included. All together, the cabin is no wider than three metres and could easily fit inside a lorry.

Ikea

“Many of the current shelters used in refugee camps have a life span of approximately six months before the impact of sun, rain and wind means it needs to be replaced. Yet long-term refugee situations mean that, on average, refugees stay in camps for 12 years,” says Ikea.

Designed to last three years, the prototype shelter from Ikea is a shed-like structure made of lightweight polymer panels, laminated with thermal insulation, which clip onto a steel frame.

The shelters take four hours to assemble and come flat-packed with panels, pipes, connectors and wires in cardboard boxes just like an Ikea bookcase.

There’s also a textile sheet with aluminium woven into the material that lays over the roof, reflecting the sun during the day and keeping heat in at night. A solar panel laminated on a thin plastic film powers built-in lights and a USB outlet.

At 17.5 square metres, the shelter is twice as large as a traditional refugee tent and each one accommodates five people. The upright walls mean the structure could be upgraded over time, for example by adding earth walls or a metal roof.

The firm hopes they could be made for around £655 each once in mass production. Ikea’s Refugee Housing Unit is manufacturing 50 trial shelters to be tested in Ethiopia, Iraq and Lebanon.