A tightened shelter: Membrane-House by LHRC Architecture

Descripción del proyecto por LHRC

MEMBRANE-HOUSE

Membrane House is born out of the need of establishing long-term shelters to attend the numerous and worrying cases in which the life span of refugee camps are extended by years. Given these facts, the refuge has the vocation to not only limit itself exclusively to contingency, but from its ephemeral condition, facilitate life and bring to the users habits or actions which they have been forced to renounce.

A membrane with structural and enclosure function offers thermal protection, privacy and isolation, creating walls and ceiling. It is held together by a simple wooden structure based on the geodesic dome, only modifying its shape to adapt to daily use and terrains with different characteristics. The stretched fabric is combined with elongated pieces of wood working under compression to develop an efficient structure that optimizes its material to its full potential at a low market cost.

This module is designed to be easily transportable and assembled in a short period of time, as none of its pieces exceed 1.20m in length and the membrane folds to be transported.

The refuge is conceived as a unit within bigger groups, offering the possibility to accommodate both private and common spaces. Therefore, a different way of approaching emergency architecture is suggested: instead of generating large common spaces later divided by its users, it is offered to start from a smaller module that can function as "room", " living room ", " workshop ", or “showers”. The neutrality of the given space allows it to host different areas that, articulated together, form a whole living area. The distinct uses may be displayed by artifacts which are hung or anchored to the perimetral structure, allowing diverse situations: double heights, furnishings, water tanks, storage spaces, etc ...

STRUCTURE

The Membrane-House structure is designed to last. It consists of 86 bars of outdoor treated pinewood having an estimated life of 15 years, and a tensioned membrane with insulation and waterproof coating.

The combination of these two elements, wood and textile membrane, in addition to triangulation, bring a great rigidity to the whole set. Due to the tensegrity principle, the compression of the wood combines with the traction of the textile. Both elements need each other to consolidate the shape of the prototype.

The combination of hexagonal and pentagonal modules offers the space a certain longitudinality, remaining halfway between the spatiality of the dome and the functionality of the vault.

EME3, CONTINGENCY AND PRAXIS

Membrane-House was born in the summer of 2016 in response to the contest organized by eme3 for the design of an emergency housing prototype. The project was selected along with six others to be built in Barcelona in November. It was awarded best emergency prototype for "its ability to adapt to different scenarios and its ease for transportation".