This project provides a model for cheap, easy-to-build emergency shelters that can be adapted to natural materials throughout much of the Muslim world. The simple structure can be easily put together by three non-professionals in two days. In the example built in Iran, a bamboo frame was fixed to a base of gas pipes from the local market and covered with rice stems, which expand when wet to deflect rain but dry in the sun to allow natural ventilation. These natural materials allow the shelter to blend back into nature when refugees leave. The light structure can be easily moved but its form is earthquake and wind resistant.
Source:
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2011.
