Comments on: Red+Housing / OBRA Architects

By: Sasha Wick

Sasha Wick — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:36:59 +0000

I find it hard to understand how this design is an improvement to a simple tent. In fact tents are lighter, quicker to erect, and more can be flown in at once. Yes, it’s more solid, yet it consists of a fabric roof, which can be very hot to be under in the mid day sun in the Middle East or Africa.

I believe a trick was missed here – the design could be considered more as bones for a new house (as well as an emergency shelter), where the occupants could follow a step by step process to turn the fabric roof into a more permanent one, for example. Or, a method of applying mud/clay onto the walls to help insulate it from heat. Most refugee camps often house people for a lot longer than originally intended and so a design that enables the people to make their accommodation less temporary will help them physically and physiologically.

By: t

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:00:42 +0000

White on the inside…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. how many monkeys did it take to figure that out. Red is for love!

By: Maciej

Maciej — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:21:47 +0000

The furniture proposed looks ok, and may even be easily transportable….. but I don’t envy people who are supposed to use it- a typical folding furniture of steel/aluminium and fabric is much more comfortable and it’s mobility and durability is definately not matched by this design.

By: sirisha bysani

sirisha bysani — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:07:43 +0000

good one but as Lucas Gray said interiors can be done in white..

By: Tammy

Tammy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:25:26 +0000

Kolohe, I think Christina was responding to the comment above……
Instead check out (guess you already have):

http://makeitrightnola.org/mir_SUB.php?section=homes&page=single&mySub=mvrdv

That made alot of people…………think

Personally think this project shown on this page is working quite well

By: kolohe

kolohe — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:53:08 +0000

christina,
tell that to all those people in louisiana who are STILL living in makeshift trailer homes..

By: Ling

Ling — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:47:33 +0000

I think the colour red is to do with Chinese culture. Red is a lucky colour which can drive misfortune or evil spirits away since ancient times. So, living in a red tent meaning to fight disaster and bring in good luck.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_the_colour_red_lucky_for_China

I think it’s a good project but it will be better if it can be set up just by one or two people (there were more then 4 people setting up the house in the photo) and also the structure at the centre could be more open to create a nicel common place rather then just passage. It will be good to see the project evolves to a more mature form as it still looks preliminary to me.

By: Christina

Christina — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:25:35 +0000

I agree with the first part of the last comment, solid, but the SO WHAT in the later bit is just sad. No, they´re not going to live there for very long, hopefully, but they are going to live there the first time after their lifes have been turned upside down…. peace!!

By: JT

JT — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:21:41 +0000

I actually think this is simply a larger and more formal version of the popular dome tents. The article did mention transportability and ease of construction to be issues that this tent tried to deal with; and I can imagine both of them to be plausible with the curved lattice structure. (Imagine if all the components are pre-fabricated–all parts connected, etc–and flat-packed so that on site you only need to splay open the latices and the tent is ready.)

And you don’t need LEDs + solar energy to show the red cross during the day if the tent itself is already a red cross. So what if the interior is red-ish… It’s not like people are going to be living in it permanently. It’s better than the other tents they have to live in anyways.

By: Stephan

Stephan — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:15:14 +0000

Of course living is the most important thing and this projects shows heart, but what I think they meant was not regarding the design looking cool or not but the way they “presented” it.
A blood coloured roof is not that nice of a reference even though the thought was good