How could a Flexible and Integrated Shelter Approach Sustain the Post-Disaster Recovery?

The variety of contexts and the unpredictable character of post-disaster situations as well as the quickly evolving and divergent needs defining the different stages of the response stand for a serious challenge: post-disaster shelter solutions must be able to sustain these dynamics. A novel post-disaster shelter approach has been developed at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. It relies on the conception of flexible and transformable shelter and construction systems. In order to investigate the feasibility of the presented concept, among other things, a real-scale prototype has been developed in cooperation with the Field Accommodation Unit of the Belgian Army.

ISBN:978-90-90-24420-4

Publication year:2009

Keywords:Post-disaster shelter response, short-term versus long-term, process-based design, adaptation, transformation, up-grading, prototype testing