06-05-2016

Living Shelter, smart housing alla Biennale di Venezia

Alejandro Aravena,

Singapore,

Biennale di Venezia,

Design,

Venice Biennale, Exhibition,

Living Shelter is the response to emergencies designed by the team from WY-TO, a Singapore-based architectural design firm, in collaboration with PODS STRUCTURE, an engineering firm also based in Singapore.



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Living Shelter, smart housing alla Biennale di Venezia Living Shelter is the response to emergencies designed by the team from WY-TO, a Singapore-based architectural design firm, in collaboration with PODS STRUCTURE, an engineering firm also based in Singapore. Inspired by the traditional Southeast Asian “kampung” house, the prototype will be exhibited at the 15th Architecture Biennale in Venice.



The architects, designers and engineers of WY-TO and PODS have developed an emergency shelter for use after natural disasters - 42.9% of which happen in the Asia Pacific area. Appropriately, their idea is called Living Shelter, emergency housing to respond to the immediate emergency and transition period, and designed specifically for the climate, geography, and cultural habits of Southeast Asia. 





Living Shelter is inspired by the traditional “kampung house”, which has been redesigned here in the form of a kind of intuitive kit: its component parts are pre-assembled and packed into a single flat pack, easy to deploy and unfold wherever needed.
Living Shelter provides both privacy and security, but also basic needs like power, water and furniture. WY-TO and PODS have included a water bag to collect water, a built-in solar panel on the roof to charge mobile devices and provide light, and fold-down furniture such as bed, hammocks, shelves, to give dignity and comfort to people who have lost their homes, and more often their loved ones. The design team developed everything with an innovative approach, including 3D printing and lightweight materials in order to increase stability without adding extra weight.



The project is supported by the Singapore Design Council, and convinced Alejandro Aravena, director of the 15th Architecture Biennale in Venice under the theme “Reporting from the Front” to include it in the collateral exhibition “Time – Space – Existence” in Palazzo Mora organised by the Global Arts Affairs Foundation, where visitors can see the prototype of Living Shelter.



A fantastic platform to showcase this response to disaster relief to the wider public and to network and approach NGOs and investors. WY-TO has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to get the prototype to the Biennale.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: WY-TO
Engineering: PODS
Year: 2016
Images: courtesy of WY-TO
Exhibition:  “Time – Space – Existence” at Palazzo Mora - 15° Biennale di Architettura di Venezia
Video: https://vimeo.com/163510645 - http://vimeo.com/163378019

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