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Medal Winner 2004
SOM Foundation UK Award

Rapid Deployment / Refugee Camps

Part 2 Project 2004
Hani Fallaha
 Architectural Association London | UK
The project is developed as a response to the very urgent situation of large scale displacement of people within the Middle East. The project is defined by two material parameters: sand and wind (environmental factors) and pneumatic membranes (material system). A generative tool was devised as a culmination of this research. Starting with a geometrical exploration of pneumatic membranes, from a single chamber component (single flip cushion), to the micro and finally the three dimensional macro aggregate, the thesis explored the geometric articulation in relation to the logic of the material system and its performance within a highly specific environment.


The project of a rapidly deployable pneumatic system for a refugee camp in the desert areas in the Middle East seems at first sight counterintuitive. However, the intelligence of a differentiated low-tech material system in relation to its performance and inhabitation is brilliantly embedded in the scheme. The project offers a system that continues to evolve through perpetual interaction with the user and the environment, and results in an integral provision for shifting pattern of inhabitation, sophisticated deployment, maintenance and environmental control strategies, while setting the scene for settlement development over time.
2004
Shelters provided by aid organizations in the Middle East suffered from various problems, they have been continuously blown away by sand storms, they did not provide adequate living conditions and resources have been repeatedly wasted.
The region lies within an extreme climatic zone. The harsh conditions such as extreme heat and sand storms are strategized to modulate the following scales of operation: The single cushion, the living unit, the aggregation of units and the camp organizati
The project contains itself within two material parameters: sand and wind (environmental factors) and pneumatic membranes (material system).
There are three types of single cushions, elongation, angle change and the bifurcation. The bifurcated cushion has two structurally capable positions.
The micro scale aggregate is an investigation into the manner in which the pneumatic cushion is positioned, rotated and then connected to the adjacent cushion to create a particular curvature.
The macro scale aggregate is an investigation and analysis of the three dimensional structural pneumatic surface that is composed of geometrically differentiated cushions.
This form is the section that is selected for the pneumatic shelters. The predominant reason for this is to create an aerodynamic surface that minimizes the wind force on the shelter.
The strategy devised of this experiment is that the angle of placement of the cushions in relation to the sand settlement can be utilized to control the light and temperature conditions in the space below.
The sand collector is placed on top of the cushions, it creates extra stability by increasing the overall weight, enhances the thermal mass and the pattern created by the collector can modulate the solar penetration and degree of privacy. And finally prot
Each surface is comprised of essentially two types of inflation points; local and global inflation points which are located at one or multiple cushions. The manner in which the valves are located throughout the surface is based on minimizing the damage or
Strategizing the different degrees of permanence, through the different fillings of the cushions, from an air filled cushion to sand filled, foam filled and finally concrete filled where the cushions becomes redundant.
The initial deployment of the shelter, and the strategy incorporated for a change in status from it being a temporary shelter into a more permanent one.
The assembly logic, starting with the single chamber, and into the micro aggregate level. Each cell is individually inflated in its proposed location, and due to the geometry of each cell they will fit into each other.
Five factors would initially determine any camp layout, the unit orientation, the distance between the units, the logistics, the social and cultural values and finally the degree of permanence which all operate at different scales.
The deployment of the single flip cushion across the section maximizes the potential ventilation.
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