Disaster Relief-folding
POD is an emergency shelter project, envisioned, designed, and now is being developed, led by a team at the firm of Hariri & Hariri Architecture D.P.C. in New York City with a mission to “save human lives” and to create a technologically challenging, ecologically responsible & morally rewarding alternative shelter for the 21st Century. The FOLDING POD is designed to replace the 18th century-TENTS that are still currently being used by the army for disaster relief due to climate-change devastations such as hurricanes, floods, forest fires, famine, earthquakes, wars, and more.
These safe, affordable and easy to install shelters can be also used for displaced people and the homeless caused by global poverty and wars. How it will be used? This modest, modular, prefabricated FOLDING POD inspired by ORIGAMI, the art of paper folding has a hinged frame and lightweight sustainable panels on the exterior. Its folding to a flat position facilitates easy shipping and assembly. In its folded-flat configuration the lightweight Pod fits on a flatbed truck for transportation to any desired location.
A solar powered portable generator will unfold these prefabricated pods. With a push of a button in less than5 minutes, the pod unfolds into a safe home. The pods are shipped in a flat position and erected without additional labor and costs for assembly and construction. They measure 16 feet long x 8 feet wide x 8 feet high and can accommodate a family of five. Furthermore, it can be configured and expanded with additional Pods into a variety of habitable combinations as needed. The Folding Pods can be used to shelter the following: -People losing their homes in Fire, Floods, Hurricane, Earthquake, other natural disasters -Displaced people due to war -Homeless People due to global Poverty -Medical Facilities in Global Pandemics -UN refugee camps -Affordable Housing (assembling large number of pods)