Large-scale catastrophes like war, famine and natural disasters can create massive migrations of people seeking safety. Currently there are over 100 million of these innocent victims who no longer have a place to call home. Well designed emergency housing is crucial to ensuring that displaced people are able to live in safe and humane conditions until they are able to move on with their lives. The Swiss building company Holcim has collaborated with refugee agencies to design a modular structure that is low-carbon, energy-efficient, and can be recycled at the end of its lifecycle. Given that refugees can spend up to 20 years in “temporary” camps, the goal was to make them less like shelters and more like homes. 

These new buildings will offer durability, safety, dignity and wellbeing for displaced communities. The outer shell is made of concrete that is produced with low-carbon cement. This offers excellent protection from the elements, and it makes the shelter easy to deploy rapidly during emergencies.

The wood-lined interiors are a huge step up from conventional tent shelters. There are designated sleeping pods for up to six people, a dining area with a table and four chairs, quite a bit of storage space, plus a shower stall and food preparation area. The exterior shell is made from ‘concrete canvas’ - an innovative alternative to poured concrete that is relatively rigid, yet flexible enough to form into different shapes. Each unit is also equipped with an energy efficient insulation system.

These units have a flexible design so that they can either be erected as single pods, or put together to form larger units for communal use. According to the designers, "The modular nature of the design accommodates the evolving needs of families of different sizes. When replicated side-by-side, the curved shape of the homes creates open areas between them that become public spaces for everyone." The buildings can even be arranged into configurations that form mini-villages with streets and courtyards. The individual units would be connected by pathways made with a special concrete that emits light during the night in order to make them more visible. On top of all that, these buildings are ecologically sustainable. When no longer needed, they can be easily dismantled and either re-used or recycled into new materials.