Homecraft

Abstract

Disasters, both natural and man-made, displace millions of people worldwide every year, necessitating an urgent need for shelter that should not only be safe and habitable but also adaptable to the diverse needs of displaced communities.

The design and deployment of disaster relief shelters face numerous challenges, including rapid deployment needs, environmental and cultural adaptability, sustainability, and the psychological well-being of the occupants. Traditional approaches often result in shelters that are slow to deploy, inadequately adapted to local conditions, or environmentally unsustainable. Furthermore, they frequently overlook the potential of involving affected communities in the shelter design process, missing opportunities for empowerment and better alignment with user needs.

Hence, why this thesis aimed to create an environment for people to design and manufacture their own customizable shelters with local products and culture in mind and without the need for expert intervention. Central to this approach is the design of a modular lightweight structure made with Plywood able to be set up by just two individuals without requiring large machinery. A structural analysis is conducted using the plugin Karamba 3D in Grasshopper, while verification is done through custom Python scripts within the same environment adhering to the Eurocode EN-1995.

To enhance user autonomy in shelter design, this thesis also explored the potential computational design offers as an approach to the optimization of shelter for specific environmental and contextual conditions as well as user requirements. Such as the ability to with a parametric model of the structure to iterate between numerous different options quite quickly. Giving the user the freedom to make it fit with their wishes without compromising structural integrity. In combination with digital fabrication technologies such as CNC-routing that enable the rapid production of each custom component as well as the addition to make use of the concept of Makerspaces, or similar environments where these tools like these are made available to anyone it can further democratize shelter design and production.

To further empower communities an online environment is developed to bring all of this together. Build using Viktor in combination with Grasshopper and Rhino the platform allows users to customize their shelter in both layout and materials and the rest is handled by the application, the structural analysis, optimization and generation of a digital 3D model. Which is then translated into the necessary fabrication files and information they need to set up their shelter using local materials and production. Fostering a sense of ownership while ensuring sustainability, adaptability and structural integrity.