Archinect - News

‘Intimacy, minimalism, and immersion’ define Atelier L’Abri’s rural Canadian camping shelters

2024-02-19T14:24:00-05:00

Montreal-based Atelier L’Abri has completed an experimental camping concept project in the Canadian wilderness. Named Territoire Charlevoix, and located in a forest between La Malbaie and Baie-Saint-Paul, the scheme is described as “a series of structures that are simple, yet varied; familiar, yet unusual.”

Image credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

The various modules comprising the project include camping shelters, viewing platforms with communal kitchens, and a visitor center. The five shelters function as small, autonomous buildings offering “an intimate encounter with nature in complete comfort, both in summer and in winter.” Sitting on slender legs, the cabins were designed to fuse rusticity and modernity, with a single-slope roof to suit the natural topography of the site.

Image credit: Raphaël Thibodeau

“This bold form is reminiscent of the shape of large dormers, or old cameras,” the designers say about the shelters. “Like th...

Shigeru Ban and the Voluntary Architects' Network pitch in on earthquake relief efforts in western Japan

2024-01-11T16:58:00-05:00

Shigeru Ban and the Voluntary Architects' Network (VAN) are once again in action deploying their patented Paper Partition System in the wake of the recent 7.7 magnitude quake that struck western Japan in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

The indoor privacy system that the Pritzker Prize winner first devised in the late 1980s and deployed later in response to the 1995 Kobe earthquake was installed recently at a gymnasium in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. The Prefecture is currently home to an estimated 26,000 shelter seekers, according to local reports.

Image courtesy Voluntary Architects' Network via Facebook

The VAN’s response is thus critical towards bolstering local relief efforts in the area that continues to suffer damage as a product of the more than 60 smaller quakes that have continued as recently as two days ago — potentially displacing hundreds or even thousands more.

Image courtesy Voluntary Architects' Network via Facebook

A TED talk featuring Ban’s description of the t...

Schools and communities in the Pacific Northwest hope for improved building code standards for earthquake preparedness

2024-01-04T08:35:00-05:00

Current seismic codes require public buildings to be built strong enough so they don’t fall down in a quake. Now, some emergency preparedness advocates want to raise the bar. Not only should essential buildings resist collapse in a strong earthquake, but also newly constructed schools, in particular, should be built so in the immediate aftermath they can be counted on to serve as relief centers.

The article mentions the AIA Oregon chapter’s efforts to push lawmakers towards adopting more stringent building codes in preparation for a cataclysmic 9.0 Cascadia earthquake. Some relatively cheaper proactive measures, such as tsunami towers, are being enacted, but the 1,000 or so schools thought to be at risk for collapse statewide just a few years ago still need to enact drastic changes whose costs are proving too much of a burden for local administrators to get behind.

“A lot of districts have been building schools and not doing this,” local Portland-based architect Jay Raskin explains. “Every year we go without requiring that schools be capable of being used as shelters is a year we miss providing shelter for the surrounding neighborhoods during a Cascadia earthquake.”

Another vote on the Oregon legislation is not expected until at least 2025.

Shigeru Ban responds to the humanitarian disaster in Morocco

2023-09-28T16:53:00-04:00

Shigeru Ban and the Voluntary Architects’ Network have shared news of their delivery of several Paper Log House prototypes in Morocco in response to the devastating 6.8 magnitude earthquake that displaced over 30,000 people recently, according to disaster response statistics assembled by the UN.

This is the third such deployment in the past four months and follows Ban’s contribution to the Turkish response effort after the February earthquake that destroyed more than 160,000 structures there and in Syria. The National Architecture School of Marrakech is helping Ban coordinate the delivery of the shelters, which were first used following the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan.

Photo: Voluntary Architects' Network via Facebook

The structures used this year in Turkey offer slightly more permanent accommodations than past prototypes and can be constructed in just three days, with another ten or so days required for pre-installation preparation.

Photo: Voluntary Architects' Network via Face...

Shigeru Ban deploys paper partition system shelters in Turkey for earthquake victims

2023-03-03T10:49:00-05:00

Shigeru Ban Architects is operating in Turkey in response to the devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 across the region last month while leaving an estimated 3 million unsheltered in two countries.

The firm’s non-profit Voluntary Architects' Network (VAN) released details Thursday about their recent deployment of the same Paper Partition System (PPS) temporary shelter seen in Ukraine and elsewhere in response to situations where masses of people have been displaced following earthquakes in Japan, Nepal, and two other countries.

Ban, who had previously delivered temporary Paper Log House designs to displaced persons after the devastating 1999 İzmit earthquake, pioneered the technique of installing a structure made of approximately 2x2-meter paper tubes over which fabric privacy curtains can be installed. The first PPS version was deployed in Japan in 2011 in response to the 3/11 earthquake and was later mentioned as one of several structural innovations in the citatio...

Kyiv-based Balbek Bureau develops modular refugee shelters for displaced Ukrainians

2022-03-29T16:58:00-04:00

With more than 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees fleeing the country and another 6.5 million internally displaced, architects in Ukraine have been hard-pressed to put their skills to work by creating the necessary shelters and accommodations required for those uprooted by the brutal Russian war machine.

One such firm at the forefront of this effort is Kyiv-based balbek bureau, an award-winning 70-member practice whose peacetime portfolio ranges from retail and residential spaces to corporate offices, hotels, restaurants, and wellness centers. Led by its founder Slava Balbek, the team has pivoted to the refugee crisis with a new project for temporary housing titled RE: UKRAINE.

Rendered image © Balbek Bureau.

The modular town system is meant to provide a modicum of dignity for their fellow citizens via the expedited delivery of an adjustable set of structures centered around four basic elements: private rooms, public recreation areas, adequate kitchens, an...

Shigeru Ban is on the ground helping war-torn Ukrainian refugees in Poland

2022-03-21T13:38:00-04:00

Shigeru Ban had been working with students from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology on the influx of Ukrainian refugees sheltering in a converted former supermarket in Chelm, Poland, where they were able to construct and install 319 privacy partitions over a four-day span. He now plans to send an additional 800 screens to refugees sheltering within their now war-torn country. The gesture has reportedly had a tremendous emotional impact on the wary travelers, whose plight in turn has captivated the 2014 Pritzker winner well known for working with displaced populations.

“They are called evacuees, but they are ordinary people like us,” Ban told a reporter. “They are with their family members, just like survivors of natural disasters are after emergencies. But the big difference is that Ukrainian evacuees are not with their husbands or fathers. Ukrainian men are basically banned from leaving the country. It’s sad.”

Ban and his collaborators from the Wrocław University of Sc...

David Adjaye has been named as the first recipient of the Charlotte Perriand Award

2022-02-10T10:05:00-05:00

A new honor has its inaugural winner after the international Créateurs Design Awards (CDA) announced Sir David Adjaye as the recipient of the first-ever Charlotte Perriand Award.

The award goes in recognition of a living architect whose career achievements thus far have paralleled that of its namesake in their trailblazing contributions to shelter design in the industry.

Perriand was an influential figure in the world of residential building, championing the accessibility of design and the notion that quality designers can vastly improve the lives of ordinary people.

Sir David shared that she is a lifelong influence on his work, and one whose thinking and philosophy has expressions in his own designs for the Sugar Hill Development and Asem Pa project in New Orleans.

“She was really expansive in thinking about what the profession could be and und...

Edward Killingsworth-designed office building to be converted to essential service center by Studio One Eleven

2020-07-28T20:29:00-04:00

Long Beach-based Studio One Eleven has announced plans to convert a former medical office designed by midcentury modern architect Edward Killingsworth into an "essential service center" that will provide services for needy families as well as food for area residents experiencing food insecurity.

The facility will comprise the new home of St. Francis Center, a group of Secular Franciscans who have operated a neighborhood-serving facility in the area since 1970. The group's facilities temporary shut down in 2017 and are now set to reopen in October 2020 when work on the project is complete.

According to the architects, the renovated structure will "allow St. Francis Center to resume its crucial mission of providing food, clothing and emergency assistance in a nurturing atmosphere." The 5,400-square-foot complex is set to include a commercial kitchen, offices for employment and family consulting services, meeting spaces, and storage to provide clothing to the homeless, according to ...

Composite shelters being developed to aid hospitals in COVID-19 testing and treatment

2020-03-31T15:28:00-04:00

The new Tupelo shelters are designed to be easily and strategically combined with additional rigid-walled Tupelo shelters as well as soft tent shelters. [...] the new shelter’s dynamic design can adapt to fit needs in healthcare for treatment and testing, and perhaps in the evolving classroom setting as well. The shelter can be “flat-packed,” meaning the shelter walls can be stacked on top of each other for high-volume, rapid transportation to affected areas.

Rhode Island-based Core Composites, a leading company that has built and designed advanced composite-based, rigid-wall shelters for the U.S. military, is working to quickly develop an easily deployable shelter that can be used for COVID-19 testing and treatment, and to aid over-capacity hospitals.

A cardboard bedroom making use of Amsterdam's residual space

2019-01-02T16:13:00-05:00

With the ‘Bedsteeg’ – a wordplay on the traditional Dutch sleeping accommodation ‘bedstede’ – Roegiers is now bringing attention to residual urban space that can be used to improve living conditions for the homeless. ‘It is about certain basic human needs that have to be met for a homeless person to become strong enough – both mentally and physically – to regain independence,’ he told local newspaper Het Parool.

As his graduation project for Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Patrick Roegiers created a simple cardboard house. Wedged between two existing buildings, covered in water-resistant coating and 3 meters high, the structure is meant to provide homeless people with a warm and dry place to sleep.

Since sleeping on the streets of Amsterdam is criminalized, the homeless population is often forced to move beyond the city's boarders. Through his project, Roegiers, hoped to give the unhoused an opportunity to safely stay in their neighborhoods while making use of Amsterdam's numerous and largely unused alleyways.

One of the challenges was convincing property owners to allow these makeshift bedrooms right next to their homes. Luckily, the neighbors were willing to cooperate, and after they granted permission, Roegiers tasked himself with finding a bedroom resident for every night of the week. If the prototype is successful, the idea might be picked up by existing homeless organizations.

Shigeru Ban builds temporary shelter for flooding victims in Japan

2018-07-17T14:17:00-04:00

World-renowned architect Shigeru Ban sprang into action again in a disaster zone by setting up temporary “homes” to give flooding victims here some much-needed privacy. Ban, members of his Voluntary Architects’ Network (VAN) and student volunteers used recycled paper tubes and pieces of fabric to create partitions for evacuees in the gymnasium of the Sono Elementary School in the Mabicho district on July 14.

Torrential downpours and subsequent floods and mudslides have devastated parts of Western Japan in recent weeks. With over 250 people dead or missing and more than 8 million people under evacuation order, this has reportedly been one of the country's most severe natural disasters in years.

Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban joined the relief efforts with VAN, the Voluntary Architects' Network he's leading, and his award-winning, low-cost, easy-to-assemble cardboard tube emergency shelter system to create a sense of privacy for evacuees having to spend their nights away from their flooded homes in an elementary school gymnasium in Okayama Prefecture.

"It is our mission as professional architects to make living environments better. We are just doing our job," said Ban.

Image: VAN - Voluntary Architects' Network

Image: V...

This 40m2 wilderness cabin by Ark Shelter Studio offers a cozy glamping experience

2018-07-13T20:31:00-04:00

Three years in the making, this cozy wilderness cabin in Slovakia's Kysuce region looks much more spacious inside than its 40m2 size. Michiel De Backer and Martin Mikovčák of Ark Shelter Studio designed the modular getaway cabin with several large windows that help occupants reconnect with nature.

Photo: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.

Painted in a subdued shade of black on the outside, the main structure of the shelter contains a furnished kitchen space, lounging areas, and a bathroom. Next to the bathroom is a bed that can move up to the ceiling to reveal a jacuzzi underneath.

Photo: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.

Photos: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.

The main area is topped with an extra module that has another bedroom, and a large rooftop...

Trump considers tent cities to house unaccompanied migrant children

2018-06-13T19:29:00-04:00

The Trump administration is looking to build tent cities at military posts around Texas to shelter the increasing number of unaccompanied migrant children being held in detention. The Department of Health and Human Services will visit Fort Bliss, a sprawling Army base near El Paso in the coming weeks to look at a parcel of land where the administration is considering building a tent city to hold between 1,000 and 5,000 children...

Over 11,200 migrant children are held without a parent or guardian by The Office of Refugee Resettlement at HHS who oversees around 100 shelters. As these shelters fill up with children separated from their parents, the Trump administration considers building tent cities to accommodate this rapidly increasing population who await processing.

Shigeru Ban is building shelters for a Kenyan refugee settlement

2017-07-20T13:14:00-04:00

Due to the large influx of refugees, sheet walls of many temporary houses have begun to wear out. And there are other major constraints. There’s low water supply, deforestation, and extremely hot temperatures, and a rainy season which often results in heavy flooding. Plus Kalobeyei remote location creates many obstacles. There are no commercial flights to the area, and it can take up to 3 days to get there by road for the capital, Nairobi, where some materials may have to be sourced from.

Shigeru Ban has signed an agreement with UN-Habitat to design up to 12,000 new homes in the Kalobeiyei refugee settlement site in Northern Kenya. Commissioned in response to the settlement’s rapid growth, which is expected to outnumber its original capacity of 45,000 within a year, the new housing will need to be a replicable model adaptable to the influx of refugees fleeing violence and climate change in South Sudan and Somalia.

"The key thing will be to design and construct shelter where no or little technical supervision is required,” noted Ban, “and use materials that are locally available and eco-friendly. It’s important that the houses can be easily maintained by inhabitants.”

Refugee shelter takes top prize for the Beazley Designs of 2016

2017-01-26T20:13:00-05:00

Designed by Johan Karlsson, Dennis Kanter, Christian Gustafsson, John van Leer, Tim de Haas, Nicolò Barlera, the IKEA Foundation and UNHCR, the photovoltaic panel-powered refugee shelter "Better Shelter" has been named the Beazley Design of the Year, beating out the five other category winners to take the top spot.

According to a press release, 30,000 of the shelters, which only take a few hours to assemble from their two-box, fully equipped kit, are currently being used globally.

Calais refugee architecture to be recognized at London Festival of Architecture

2016-06-09T13:37:00-04:00

The festival has been curated by Robert Mull, former dean of the Cass School of Art... His journey then took him to the Calais camp, where he, too, was struck by how “vibrant” the makeshift town was. “Obviously that has to be caveated: it’s a hell of a place and utterly distressing in so many ways, but it was fascinating to see how different groups were establishing a kind of urbanism which felt very authentic, very deeply rooted in their cultures.”

At his pithy yet nuanced best, the Guardian's Olivier Wainwright documents the formation of a makeshift town by refugees in Calais, and the subsequent decision to display some of their works in the London Festival of Architecture.

For more on the architecture of transience and nomadism:

Homes of the homeless, seized: L.A. cracks down on free housing

2016-02-25T14:35:00-05:00

Escalating their battle to stamp out an unprecedented spread of street encampments, city officials have begun seizing tiny houses from homeless people living on freeway overpasses in South Los Angeles. Three of the gaily painted wooden houses, which come with solar-powered lights and American flags, were confiscated earlier this month and seven more are planned for impound Thursday, a Bureau of Sanitation spokeswoman said.

Does providing homes for the homeless solve the problem? Studies would indicate that it does, based on our coverage of the development of programs across the globe to help provide permanent, individualized shelter for the homeless, including those in Utah, Seattle, and London.

Here's a sampling:

Bonus Session: Reflections on "Shelter" in Los Angeles

2015-11-20T14:49:00-05:00

We're pleased to announce a special bonus episode of Archinect Sessions, featuring a live recording of the closing panel discussion for "Shelter" at the Architecture + Design Museum in Los Angeles.

To close out the exhibition on November 6, curators Sam Lubell and Danielle Rago hosted two panel discussions with the featured architects, focusing on the sites that serve as the exhibition's organizing principles: the Metro subway extension in front of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the stretch of the LA River running through the city proper. Both sites embody much of what is affecting Los Angeles' changing urbanism – ongoing drought, invigorated public transportation, gentrification, and increasing density.

Mimi Zeiger, West Coast Editor of The Architect's Newspaper moderated the panel on the River, with Jimenez Lai (Bureau Spectacular), Elizabeth Timme (LA-Más), and Lorcan O'Herlihy (Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects), and I moderated the panel on Metro, with Jennifer Marmon (PAR...

Surviving in style: the world's largest private doomsday shelter has a swimming pool, wine cellar, art vaults

2015-11-16T13:51:00-05:00

This is The Oppidum, a massive 323,000 square foot property with plans for a spectacular estate. What lies hidden beneath, carved deep in the mountain is the largest residential doomsday shelter in the world. [...] The planned luxurious underground compound on two levels includes a total space of 77,500 sf with 13 foot high ceilings. The layout features one large 6,750 sf apartment and six 1,720 sf apartments. Construction on the secret facility began in 1984, at the height of the Cold War.

Related on Archinect:

Homey pop-up bus shelter hopes to increase safety for Minneapolis commuters

2015-10-29T17:25:00-04:00

Minus a TV, a temporary bus shelter at S. 6th Street and the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis has most of the cozy comforts of your living room: pillows, books, board games, a clock, a rug and string lighting. [...] High-traffic bus stops can be flash points for safety concerns, and projects like Living Room Station represent an opportunity to bring in creative thinkers and builders to improve the experiences for riders, passersby and neighbors

The Mars Ice House envisions the day Earthlings can live with ease atop the Martian surface

2015-10-10T11:52:00-04:00

So continues the space-age fantasy of humankind someday living successfully on the Red Planet, or undertaking expeditions to the far ends of the universe. In this spirit, NASA and America Makes' launched their 3D Printed Habitat Challenge late last year, wherein multi-disciplinary teams proposed shelters equipped to endure the environments of Mars and (eventually) deep-space exploration.

Following rigorous evaluations by the jury and a public showcase at the NYC World Maker Faire this past September, the eight-member Clouds AO + Space Exploration Architecture (SEArch) team took home the overall winning $25,000 prize with their "Mars Ice House" design, out of 30 finalist submissions.

Enticing sci-fi aesthetics aside, the Mars Ice House's optimistic approach focuses on interior-to-exterior terrestrial concepts that could enable inhabitants to live comfortably and in harmony on the Martian surface, instead of buried underneath and completely closed off. "The architecture of ICE HOUSE...e...

Shigeru Ban: Beauty as a basic human need

2015-06-23T14:56:00-04:00

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.

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.

San Francisco's new pilot project to house the homeless

2015-03-11T15:22:00-04:00

The Navigation Center is one of the most innovative homeless-help experiments being undertaken in the U.S. — meaning that when it opens the week of March 16 at an old high school at 16th and Mission streets, it will be watched not just by every homeless camper in the vicinity, but by aid agencies around the nation. [...] The Navigation Center will be doing this as a pilot project for eight to 18 months, depending on its success.

Harvard GSD to host talk on "Habitation in Extreme Environments: Alpine Shelter" exhibition this Friday

2015-02-11T18:58:00-05:00

Curated by Spela Videcnik, Rok Oman, and John T. Dunlop (Design Critic in Housing and Urban Development), the "Habitation in Extreme Environments: Alpine Shelter" exhibition currently at the Harvard GSD presents a prototypical alpine shelter that students designed in an option studio this past fall. A public lecture and discussion by Spela Videcnik will formally introduce the topic this Friday, February 13 at Gund Hall. The exhibition and lecture are free and open to the public.

Guided by instructors Spela Videcnik and Rok Oman of Ljubljana-based OFIS arhitekti, the studio focused on investigating architectural solutions and responses to extreme climatic conditions, specifically referring to the ongoing heavy wintry conditions that ravage the North region of the U.S. The students researched traditional European alpine settlements in an effort to find new architectural solutions fit for a North American context.

The prototype shelter that will be presented at this Friday's lecture prov...

The VIPP Shelter joins the industrial-chic prefab housing market

2015-01-20T18:28:00-05:00

Not long after Muji's Vertical House and Philippe Starck + Riko's eco-prefab house, Danish lifestyle brand VIPP — who is best known for their bins and kitchenware — recently launched their own industrial-chic prefab known as the VIPP Shelter. The VIPP Shelter is a 55 m2, galvanized steel "container house" designed as a getaway retreat that complements VIPP's houseware products inside and various remote natural landscapes.

The two-story prefab structure is delivered in two containers and assembled on site in a matter of days. The house can accommodate up to four people, and is also equipped with furniture, lighting, tables, towels, and bed linens. It also has electrical floor heating and a centrally located fireplace. VIPP Shelter prices start at $585,000 (€485,000) with a delivery time of six months plus freight + installation.

Another feature of the VIPP Shelter is Architectural Solutions' PanoramAH! Series 38 sliding windows on two of the house's four sides on the main level. One si...

BUREAU A's Swiss alpine cabin lets you camp out inside a boulder

2014-12-17T14:49:00-05:00

Up in the slopes of the Swiss village Verbier in the Alps, BUREAU A's "Antoine" is a little wooden cabin hidden inside a concrete rock that camouflages with its environment. Inspired by Swiss cultural elements like the literature of iconic writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, hidden bunkers, and the unique experience of living in an alpine landscape, "Antoine" looks like one comfy, cool space to get away from it all — with a hint of adventure.

BUREAU A provided more detail into their latest project:

"The mountains have the power to call for feelings of fascination and fear at the same time. Switzerland has a strong tradition of observing the Alps, living with them, hiding inside them. The awe and the anxiety that this monumental landscape appeals is reflected in the writings of Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, one of the most important Swiss writers. His novels, Derborence, describes the massive rock fall that covered the pastures of the valley of Lizerne in 1714. Antoine, the main character, surv...

Winners of Warming Huts v.2015

2014-11-26T18:51:00-05:00

The Warming Huts competition is back with its 2015 edition! The blind jury sifted through over 100 submissions from around the world for this season's most creative warming huts. The top three winning designs will be constructed at the Red River Mutual Rivertrail in Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. This year's competition awarded two Shelter category winners and one Installation winner.

(Above) SHELTER WINNER: This Big by Tina Soli & Luca Roncoroni from Dorebak Akershus, NORWAY

SHELTER WINNER: "The Hole Idea by Weiss Architecture & Urbanism Limited from Toronto, CANADA

INSTALLATION WINNER: Recycling Words by KANVA, from Montreal, CANADA

For more project details and other noted submissions, head over to Bustler.

How to Build a Perfect Refugee Camp

2014-02-13T14:13:00-05:00

Many of the world’s displaced live in conditions striking for their wretchedness, but what is startling about Kilis is how little it resembles the refugee camp of our imagination. It is orderly, incongruously so. Residents scan a card with their fingerprints for entry [...]. Inside, it’s stark: 2,053 identical containers spread out in neat rows. No tents. None of the smells — rotting garbage, raw sewage — usually associated with human crush and lack of infrastructure.

World Class Architects Design Bus Stops in Austria

2013-11-07T15:56:00-05:00

The tiny Austrian village of Krumbach has commissioned international architecture firms to build avant-garde bus stops. The "Bus:Stop" project was conceived by Krumbach's cultural association, which hired prominent Austrian architect Dietmar Steiner to act as curator. Though he counts major architects from around the world among his contacts, he chose to maintain a boutique feel: "No starchitects, just small offices with sculptural interest."