Refugees fleeing the worst humanitarian crises of our time don’t just need tents – they need safe and stable long-term housing, a sense of community, access to transitional resources and plans for permanent integration into existing cities. Smart and sensitive design solutions may play just one small role in addressing the crisis, but they can help provide the architecture and infrastructure needed to start a new life.

Mannheim Refugee Pavilion, Germany

Architecture students at the University of Kaiserslautern in Mannheim created an airy community center made of latticed wood to offer a sheltered communal area for refugees arriving to an adjacent camp. The team worked with 25 refugees and building companies to create the shelter. “Due to bureaucratic procedures, refugees arriving in Germany are condemned to sustain a long period of passiveness. They are well provided with the bare essentials but the immediate area is quite desolate and lacking of quality common spaces. The residents at the preliminary reception center has the opportunity to actively shape their environment and create a quality place for common or individual use.”

20,000 New Homes for Refugees in Kenya by Shigeru Ban

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban will design 20,000 new homes for refugees at the Kalobeyei refugee settlement in Kenya based on discusses he held with refugees in the area. “The key thing will be to construct shelter where no or little technical supervision is required, and use materials that are locally available and eco-friendly,” he says. “It’s important that the houses can be easily maintained by inhabitants.”

Ikea’s Flat-Pack Refugee Shelter Named 2016 Design of the Year

The ‘Better Shelter’ by Ikea is a flat-pack structure large enough to house a family of five that can be assembled in just a few hours. Made from recyclable plastic, it consists of just 68 components and includes a solar panel to power lights and charge smartphones and other devices. It went into production in 2015, and since then, tens of thousands of units have been delivered to countries all over the world. Though it’s more practical than glamorous, the Better Shelter won the Beazley Design of the Year Award presented by the Design Museum in London in 2016.

‘Weaving a Home’ by Abeer Seikaly

Winner of a Lexus Design Award in 2013, ‘Weaving a Home’ by Abeer Seikaly is a collapsible structural fabric shelter capable of adapting to various climates. The design is cellular, made of high-strength plastic tubing woven into a fabric membrane, and segments can be left open to create doorways or windows or closed to retain heat. At the top of the unit is a water storage tank supplied by rainwater or an onsite source to provides running water inside. “Refugees carry from their homes what they can and resettle in unknown lands, often starting with nothing but a tent to call home…” says Seikaly. “In this space, the refugees find a place to pause from their turbulent worlds, a place to weave the tapestry of their new lives.”

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Rethinking The Refugee Camp 8 Architectural Proposals For Asylum Seekers

30 years post-Chernobyl and 5 years after Fukushima, we still haven’t figured out how to deal with lingering radiation in the wake of a nuclear disaster or come up with a foolproof way to protect ourselves from similar incidents in the future. Nuclear disaster-focused concept designs address everything from repopulating Chernobyl and safeguarding against radiation-poisoned seafood from Japan to living in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future where mechanical dogs scout the streets.

Self-Contained Fallout-Absorbing City for Chernobyl

People are beginning to resettle the post-Chernobyl nuclear wasteland surrounding Pripyat, Ukraine whether radiation reaches safe levels or not, and this skyscraper concept is an attempt to minimize harm, creating a sort of self-contained oasis among the fallout. The skin of the building essentially acts as an anti-radiation force field, and the ‘Unexpected Aurora’ building itself filters air and water and harvests solar energy.

HAL Exoskeleton Turned Radiation Suit

Originally designed to help people with muscle diseases, the Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) suit got a post-Fukushima upgrade to make it a radiation-proof suit for emergency responders. A typical anti-radiation tungsten vest weighs up to 132 pounds, making it very difficult to wear for long periods, but the HAL exoskeleton supports its weight, reducing fatigue and allowing greater access to hazardous sites.

Revitalization of the Chernobyl Zone

Another proposal for repopulating the Chernobyl exclusion zone seeks not to be entirely self-contained, but act as a framework for further development of human activity in the area, with a mono-railroad as its backbone. This rail line leads to modular train stations with emergency shower cabins and a decontamination zone, as well as honeycomb-shaped modular housing and observation towers. The development accommodates stubborn residents and curious tourists alike, providing plenty of opportunities to observe Pripyat in its new form.

Fukushima Plates Detect Radiation

After the Fukushima disaster in Japan, a lot of sushi lovers questioned whether seafood imported from the region was safe, hence this concept by German designer Nils Ferber. There’s a radiation meter built right into each plate, with LED lights to warn you if your food is dangerously radioactive. One glowing white light tells you your food contains low levels of radiation, two white lights advise caution while a large red ring tells you it’s not safe to eat. “In a society that sacrifices reason to profit, security becomes a luxury for those who can afford it,” says the designer. “The plate might become an indispensable tool of survival in the future.”

Mech Suits, Chernobyl Patrol + More by Vitaly Bulgarov

Moscow-based concept designer Vitaly Bulgarov presents a series of digital proposals for ‘The Black Phoenix Project: Chernobyl Patrol,’ ranging from semi-civilian drones to advanced weaponry systems. The artist works for game developer Blizzard and created this 3D visualization as a demonstration on speeding up the process of creating concept art with design software like Brush and SoftImage XSI. The mech designs include robotic Scout Dogs, an ‘Arachnid Tank,’ a missile-launching ‘Public Protector,’ infantry bots and an ambulance/rescue robot, and they’re clearly oriented toward a post-apocalyptic, war-torn scenario in Chernobyl rather than just dealing with radiation.

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Beyond Chernobyl 15 Design Concepts For A Post Nuclear World

Aesthetics may not be the first consideration when it comes to emergency items like survival kits, post-disaster housing and relief supplies, but good design can make the difference between clunky, inefficient objects that hamper adequate response and the items that save as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible. Often created after designers witnessed disasters close to home, many of these solutions attempt to build preparedness into our daily lives, making it easy to grab a minimalist kit by the door or pack up a panicked pet at the last minute.

Pet Earthquake Emergency Bag

Have you thought about what you’d do with your cat or small dog if a disaster hit and you had to flee on foot? Transporting them in a standard pet carrier would be cumbersome and maybe even impossible. Enter the Pet Earthquake Bag Kit, created in response to the last major earthquake in Japan. Special pockets and straps make it possible to carry up to two household pets. It come sin two sizes and includes a human/pet emergency kit with water, treats, bandages and calming oils.

Minim-Aid Emergency Kit

This slim and minimalist stainless steel tube kit by Nendo takes up very little space hanging in a closet or on a hook by the door, but contains a raincoat, radio with gadget charger, lantern, drinking water and whistle. Waterproof and capable of floating, it would be easy to grab and carry at the last minute.

Reaction Housing System Flat-Pack Emergency Shelters

Stackable and easy to ship, the Reaction Housing System is made up of two easy-to-assemble pieces that can be used alone for a single unit or connected to multiple units. Each one can be configured as a living space or office and contain single beds that fold down from the wall and portable power generators. Twenty of them can be stacked on one semi-truck or C-130 Hercules plane, and 1,940 could be moved across the country on a freight train to house 7,760 survivors as quickly as possible. At $5K each, they’re far cheaper than most other solutions, like the ones FEMA currently uses.

Life Desk

The Life Desk was developed after a number of students were seriously injured or killed by the tables they were hiding under during earthquakes in China. The heavy duty high-strength-steel and nylon desk provides a long-lasting work surface for students and can be quickly folded for shelter in an emergency.

PATCH Urban Survival Kit

Looking like a small thermos on a key fob, PATCH is an urban survival kit designed specifically for city dwellers in the 21st century, containing all the core elements of a first-aid kit and adding a phone charger, multi-tool, zip ties, emergency blanket and other items you’d be likely to need if some kind of disaster made your surroundings unsafe.

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Designing For Disaster 15 Ideas For Preparedness Response

New York City residents could have a stylish and safe place to live in less than 15 hours after a catastrophic natural or manmade disaster with these modular ‘pop-up’ apartments. Developed by Garrison Architects for the NYC Office of Emergency Management, the Urban Post Disaster Housing Prototype makes it easy to create compact multi-story, multi-family dwellings on demand.

Each individual unit is self-contained and can host families of various sizes, expanding from a one bedroom up to a three bedroom. Prefabricated in Indiana, the units also feature a living room, bathroom, fully-equipped kitchen, storage space and balcony. Multiple units can be stacked vertically or set side-by-side in a variety of urban settings, from vacant lots to public spaces.

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy made it clear that fast, safe, durable housing is critical once the immediate danger of a disaster has passed. The result of over 6 years of research into emergency housing by by the City of New York, this design allows residents to remain in their communities instead of being whisked away to shelters for months at a time.

The units were designed to meet the strictest zoning requirements in the United States so they can be quickly deployed to any location in the country within hours. A total of 5 modules were created for the prototype, which will remain on the corner of Cadman Plaza East and Red Cross Place for up to two years. Guests will be invited to stay in the units for five-day intervals to see just how comfortable these housing units can be.

For all the effort, skill and time it takes to produce a typical work of origami, the result can be ephemeral, limited by the delicate nature of  paper. But apply the same techniques and visuals to architecture, and suddenly the intriguing geometric and mathematical qualities of this ancient Japanese art take on a sense of awe-inspiring scale and permanence. Here are 14 faceted structures, from flat pack emergency shelters to multi-story museums.

Bilbao Health Department

The folded facade of this Health Department building in Bilbao, Spain is not only a striking architectural feature, but a creative solution to a building code that requires setbacks for multi-story buildings along major streets. The origami-inspired glass is a second skin that increases energy efficiency.

Instant Flat-Pack Origami Shelter

A series of sheets unfold from a small, compact package into a three-dimensional shelter. The design, by Doowon Suh, is envisioned as a modular emergency shelter that could easily be transported and set up in the aftermath of a disaster.

Origami Office Building, Paris

Looking like a cross between the Japanese art of origami and Art Nouveau, Manuelle Gautrand’s Origami Office Building in Paris features a double-layered curtain wall of glazing and faceted marble. The folded marble panels add an extra dimension to the building’s exterior, creating textural patterns that look fresh and modern yet blend with the adjacent historic architecture.

Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theater, Rockford, Illinois

Folding roof panels that open up to the sky give the Bengt Sjostrom Starlight Theater at Rock Valley College in Illinois an origami feel. The transforming roof closes in poor weather conditions to ensure that the show can always go on, but maintains the feel of the outdoor theater that was formerly on the site.

Origami Disaster Cave

With a design based on a water molecule, the Digital Origami Emergency Shelter by LAVA offers temporary shelter after a disaster while “giving an opportunity for personal expression.” The wooden units can either be shipped flat-pack or cut using local plywood. Each can sleep two adults and one child, and is fitted with battery or solar-powered LED lights.

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Origami Inspired Architecture 14 Geometric Structures