Functionality and use of design

• Secures personal belongings
• Can be customized and adapted by the user
• Is a non-military, non-hierarchical design
• Can be transported on foot
• Can be recycled into new or rebuilt dwellings later on
• Zips together easily by non-experts
• Sleeps 2 to 10 people
• Sub-Zero version maintains body heat through high performance light panel walls and floor
• Hot-Climate version offers circulation-cooling
• Stores the users' belongings in attic-like roof
• Public-private patio to communicate, watch, greet
• Surfaces for messages and drawings

How did this design improve life?:
The Zip-Shelter, sub zero and above, is a rapidly deployable shelter for cold or hot climate conditions, for use by refugees, migrants and for expeditions. 'The benefits of the lessons learned from major disasters are beginning to show. However, there remains one particular sector in which too little progress has been made, and in which many conservative and obsolescent attitudes survive, that is: emergency shelter and shelter after disaster in a more general sense.' United Nations High Commission for Refugees Previous design proposals for rapid shelter has not been successful on a large scale for the following reasons:

1. they are designed with a military mindset
2. they ignore the basic need for privacy
3. they can't be quickly configured for a cold or hot climate
4. they don't address storage of personal belongings
5. they are not designed for personalization and expansion by the user

1. Instant shelter designs have not worked because designers have taken a military camp approach, demanding uniformity and hierarchy and so inhibiting the organic, social process. Families and communities are, even under the shock of disaster, self-organizing groups. They need to be next to their damaged or destroyed home, when possible, to protect what is left and to start sorting and rebuilding quickly.
2. In an extreme situation humans need to be with loved ones, not sharing their intimate space with strangers. Communal meals and medical care are the exception.
3. Twenty-five percent of natural and man-made disasters happen under winter conditions. To survive cold and sub-zero nights without good sleeping bags is not possible in tents. (China, Iran, Italy, Afghanistan, the Balkans etc.). A container of Zip-Shelters can be configured for 'hot or cold climate' deployment in one day.
4. Personal items which could be saved by survivors need to be securely stored and accessed when needed.
5. The inhabitants can personalize and expand the shelter to their needs and location by adding tarps and improvised extentions to cover an animal, a motorbike or an outside kitchen. Water collection is built into the basic design.

ZIP-SHELTER
Tents are rapidly deployable 'mild climate' shelters; sea containers are slow shelters in terms of deployment. The Zip-Shelter closes the need between these two products, being lightweight and very compact in its disassembled form, easily transported by air, ground and on foot. Excellent insulation properties of the wall material protect the inhabitants during sub-zero nights, a function tents cannot offer.

A standard 20 foot sea container with a volumne of 33 cubic meters can hold 50 medium and 25 large collapsed Zip-Shelters, capable of supplying housing for approximately 450 people. Upon arrival by plane, helicopter or truck, a pack of Zip-Shelters is transportable like a backpack on foot where trucks can't pass due to missing roads or bridges. A stack of three Zip-Shelters houses twenty people.

In the months after the loss / disaster, the material of our shelter can be used to complete and improve the repaired or new permanent home as roofing, dividers etc. Future Zip-Shelter generations with solar collectors can be used as such after the life of the Zip-Shelter itself.

Drawbacks of life improvement
Not fully resolved so far: Prototyping will bring changes to some details. Winds of 50 km/h and above require rope and additional anchors to secure the shelter to the ground. Laminated, bio-polymer composite sheets are already used in car interiors, but we have not yet located the appropriate supplier for our requirements. We do not know yet what the manufacturing price of the product will be.

Research and need
'In terms of design of refugee settlements, virtually all current solutions are based on a military type layout that puts expediency and perceived efficiency before sensitivity to the inhabitants living patterns. This type of organization can in fact hinder the recovery process of the people.' Office of the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator

'When a disaster occurs, the immediate preoccupation of the population is to save life and property. Suitable shelter can play a major role in preventing further distress, illness and death.' Robert Kronenburg in 'Houses in Motion - Shelter after Disaster'

Research
Staying in and studying makeshift shelters in snow fields (Volcano Rinjani, 4100 m, Indonesia, Mauna Loa, Hawaii) and in hot climates (Vietnam, Brazil)

Studying the self-organizing behavior of refugees, migrants and porters at these sites Studying the basic functions and processes of sleep, rest, meals, fire, storage and clothing We have developed entrepreneurial design solutions and gathered experience in global mobility and the economy of transport of lightweight, collapsible structures.

We have implemented products made of flat semi-rigid materials for a decade and are certain of the high feasibility of this design.

Manufacturing Methods:
Laser or water jet cutting; ultrasonic welding; industrial sewing (walls) Vacuum forming (floor)

Materials - 2005 Prototypes:
Two outer skins of waterproof, nonwoven fiber board, with 3 mm foam inner insulation, bendable like a thin aluminum sheet, used as in inner door covers of cars Sub Zero Zip-Shelter: 'thermo-rest' technology for door and window Hot Climate Zip-Shelter: front- and back wall as grids (with privacy shield)

Materials - Projected:
Laminated, three layer, bio-polymer composite sheets (coconut fiber or similar) for walls and storage-roof / attic; waterproof yet breathable; solar roof optional

Literature:
Department of Humanitarian Affairs: Floods. Dr. J. Miller, United Nations, New York 1997
Ephemeral / Portable Architecture. Architectural Design, London 1998
Houses in Motion. Robert Kronenburg, Academy Editions, London 1995
Shelter after Disaster. Oxford Politechnic Press, Oxford, 1978
Winter Accomodation for Refugees in Ex-Yugoslavia. Workshop on Improved Shelter Response
and Environment. Swiss Disaster Relief Unit, UNHCR, Geneva 1993
The Earth Shook, The Sky Burned. W. Bronson, Chronicle Books, San Francisco 1986
Der mittlere Transport-Hubschrauber. Soldat und Technik, 42/5 2004
Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design. P. Antonelli, The Museum of Modern Art, NY 1995
Handbuch Material Technologie. Nicola Stattmann, Rat fuer Formgebung, Ludwigsburg 2000
and others

Designed by
Sigmar Willnauer, Maik Hanel, Clare Johnson, Sebastian Lex & Ingo Sigler - Germany