Paper Emergency Shelter for Haiti
Port-au-Prince, Haiti · 2010
Photo · Photo by Shigeru Ban Architects
A construction detail precedent showing Shigeru Ban assembling a paper tube emergency shelter in Haiti, demonstrating low-tech rope lashing joints for rapid deployment.
- What we like about this project
- The structural joints are secured entirely with simple rope knots rather than metal fasteners.
Materials
- paper-tubes
- rope
- plastic-tarpaulin
Visual identifiers
- paper-tubes
- rope-joints
- emergency-shelter
- shigeru-ban
- hands-on-construction
Style tags
- humanitarian
- temporary
- low-tech
- sustainable
Visual tags
- temporary-housing
- disaster-relief
- paper-architecture
- modular-assembly
- low-tech
- Geometry
- A triangular or A-frame structural framework composed of cylindrical paper tubes lashed together with white tension ropes.
- Structural guess
- Paper tube space frame or A-frame with rope tension ties
- Spatial scale
- Human-scale assembly showing close-up details of structural connections relative to hands and bodies.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft shadows on the workers and materials.
- Atmosphere
- An atmosphere of collaborative, urgent, and resourceful community building.
- Environmental context
- Outdoor construction site with a rough stone retaining wall in the background and blue tarps on the ground.
- Spatial experience
- An active construction site where hands-on assembly reveals the lightweight, modular nature of the structural joints.
- Composition rhythm
- Diagonal lines of the paper tubes converge at a central node where tension ropes create a web of structural connections.
- Style reading
- Humanitarian emergency architecture
- Program
- Emergency shelter
- Perspective
- Detail Close-up
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- paper-tubes, rope, plastic-tarpaulin
- Visual identifiers
- paper-tubes, rope-joints, emergency-shelter, shigeru-ban, hands-on-construction
- Style tags
- humanitarian, temporary, low-tech, sustainable
- Visual tags
- temporary-housing, disaster-relief, paper-architecture, modular-assembly, low-tech
- Geometry
- A triangular or A-frame structural framework composed of cylindrical paper tubes lashed together with white tension ropes.
- Structural guess
- Paper tube space frame or A-frame with rope tension ties
- Spatial scale
- Human-scale assembly showing close-up details of structural connections relative to hands and bodies.
- Lighting
- Overcast, diffused daylight casting soft shadows on the workers and materials.
- Atmosphere
- An atmosphere of collaborative, urgent, and resourceful community building.
- Environmental context
- Outdoor construction site with a rough stone retaining wall in the background and blue tarps on the ground.
- Spatial experience
- An active construction site where hands-on assembly reveals the lightweight, modular nature of the structural joints.
- Composition rhythm
- Diagonal lines of the paper tubes converge at a central node where tension ropes create a web of structural connections.
- Style reading
- Humanitarian emergency architecture
- Program
- Emergency shelter
- Perspective
- Detail Close-up
- Discipline
- architecture