Costruire in emergenza: Progetto di un rifugio efficiente, sostenibile e di rapida installazione

According to CRED (Centre for Epidemiology of Disaster), in 2016 the number of people affected by natural disasters was close to 411 million, registering 301 disasters in 102 States, four times more than the previous year. In Italy, only in 2016, an earthquake damaged 131 municipalities in the regions of Abruzzo, Marche, Umbria and Lazio, causing about 12000 evacuees. Because of Italy’s vulnerability to earthquakes and seismic risk low prevention, nowadays the Country has the largest number of people evacuated in the whole of Europe. The research aims to give a response to the housing emergency that arises in the event of earthquakes, proposing a low-cost solution through innovative constructions. The proposed solution combines the concepts of minimum and affordability with ones of efficiency and sustainability. It is based on a living module composed by four adjacent sections that can be connected to each other or to new ones, expanding the single living module’s area until the required one is obtained. It is possible to incorporate kitchen and bathroom in order to obtain independent shelters. From a structural point of view, the living module has a frame of anodized aluminum bars and joints where finishing prefabricated panels are connected. Every single part can be connected by simple joints and easily available connection elements, which allow unskilled workers to install the unit. The use of such industrial components allows costs reduction, ensuring at the same time a good quality level. Thanks to performance and innovation obtained by the exploitation of the mechanical characteristics of recyclable and recycled materials, the module studied was set up as a solution that is able to face those situations, which should be temporary but sometimes become permanent, still combining sustainability and good performance characteristics.