disaster relief

Michael Janzen’s Emergency Shelters

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A hybrid earthbag and pallet building would provide excellent protection from the weather and would be virtually free to build with debris and discarded shipping pallets. The addition of rain water collection, humanure composting, and simple solar oven(s) would provide fresh water and help keep human waste safely out of the way. Any additional materials … Read more

Post-Tsunami Bamboo House

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Architects, engineers and designers were quick to help create safer, more sustainable designs after the December 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. One effort at the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building led to an earthbag design, another effort developed a bamboo design with earthbag (sandbag) footings. Architects Diego Lastres and Daniella Corvetto were key to … Read more