Basic shelter™ was designed primarily as a low cost emergency cover. The structure is composed of four bamboo elements and reinforced polyethylene film; these are sealed together in production to create a system that does not require assembly, only deployment. One person can deploy and secure a single module in about 30 seconds. This design is currently being developed into larger multiuse structures.

More information:

Our work on Basic Shelter and related projects was presented at the 3rd International Conference on Portable Architecture & Design called Transportable Environments 3, held April28-30, 2004 at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. The article from the conference proceedings/ book can be downloaded below.

Plastic & Bamboo: Tailor-made Tent Design/ PDF file (291 KB)