Emergency Housing

Life Cube's new LC-8 is a tent like no other. It travels to the night's destination in the trunk of the vehicle and inflates into a 6.5-foot-high six-sleeper micro-cabin ... on the ground, atop a pickup truck or floating on the water.

Los Angeles-based tiny house company Vika Living has recently revealed a compact Accessory Dwelling Unit called the Vika One, which is fully prefabricated and delivered flat-packed on-site, to simply unfold into position within an hour.

​Further to opening our eyes to all kinds of new perspectives on our environment, we are beginning to see how drones can play very active roles in its construction. The latest example comes from a team of researchers that hope to use them to craft low-cost housing made from natural materials. ​

​They say constraint breeds creativity, and anybody looking to get into home ownership will be well familiar with the constraints that go with it. Here we take a look at some clever solutions to low-cost housing, including a few whose appearance far outstrips their price tag.

​Japanese architect Shigeru Ban has made his name by using cardboard and wood to craft low-cost disaster housing, and he will need to be at his enterprising and creative best as he tackles his next big project – to design thousands of new shelters in a major refugee settlement in Kenya.

Japan's Shigeru Ban is a bone-fide starchitect best known for using his considerable talents to design temporary low-cost emergency housing using materials like beer crates and cardboard tubes. Two of his innovative shelters, plus other works, are currently on display in Sydney's SCAF art gallery.

Michael R Weekes wanted to see how much home he could fit onto a small trailer and pull with a standard car. The answer turned out to be the Life Pod tiny home.

There are all sorts of shelters available for use in emergencies or after disasters and, like many of them, the Hex House is aimed at being low cost, sustainable and rapidly deployable. It's also specifically designed to give some dignity back to people who may have lost everything.

Current humanitarian disasters prove the widespread need for emergency shelters isn't disappearing anytime soon, so potential improvements in the field are always welcome. DMOA has thrown its hat into the ring with a shelter that functions like a tent, but is more stable and permanent.

When people find themselves in dire straits due to natural disaster or displacement through conflict, a well designed and rapidly delivered emergency relief shelter can make the difference between life and death. Gizmag highlights some of the more innovative emergency shelters we've come across.

Turkish design firm Designnobis has designed an interesting concept for a compact pop-up shelter dubbed Tentative. The design shows promise thanks to its dramatically decreased size when in transportation.

Having developed containers that can load and unload themselves, Excalibur Shelters has continued to think outside the box with the creation of a standard size shipping container that unfolds into very large shelters and pavilions.