PROJECT TITLE:

Rebuild By Design

CLIENT:

HUD

TYPE:

Disaster Relief

BUDGET:

Disaster Relief Competition

LOCATION:

New York and New Jersey Coast

SIZE:

n/a

DESCRIPTION:

Recently, Tompkins Architects put together a proposal for HUD’s Rebuild by Design Competition “Promoting Resilience “Post-Sandy through Innovative Planning and Design". While our solution focuses on helping coastal towns in, post natural disasters the inspiration is surprisingly Midwestern. 

The goal of our project was to create a cheap, strong, hurricane proof design that dispatch to multiple locations to provide people shelter, food, water, aid, and anything else they may need. After doing some research into affordable shipping container construction, We discovered that every year thousands of shipping container are lost to the water every year. They often end up in the water due to sailor improperly securing them during storms. What was most astonishing was that they do not instantly sink.

More often than not, they stay afloat for months on months, depending on the payload. They often sit just inches above the water, and are devastating hazards to boaters. After making this discovery, we thought about how unique and affordable they would be to turn a hidden danger into a floating savior.

Inspired from the mobility of food trucks and their ability to provide sustenance on demand to any location, we thought that they would be a perfect precedent for a sea based mobile aid distributor. Combining this approach with the historic security of circling wagons for protection, we were able to create a final design solution that we believe could be very successful.  Banded together containers would sit, circled and anchored, offshore in positions that can survive storms similar to buoys by riding out the waves. They can administer aid and transport survivors to remote and safe locations either away from land or to a planned refugee area by tugboat. With proper insulation and preparation, several different versions could be manufactured to hold water, food, medical supplies or consulting services, to really make a difference post a natural disaster. 

 

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