Disaster Relief Shelters - Savannah, GA

So, as I said in the previous post our final project for the summer intro design course was to design emergency units, for people who would need a place to temporarily live in an emergency situation. The assignment was based on a fictitious story that an event such as a hurricane, tornado or other catastrophe would completely clear out our site, and the disaster relief shelters would then be arranged on the site. These shelters would temporarily house 4-6+ people, have no electricity, or running water, and must be easily transported. In the previous post I showed the photo analysis and diagrams of the site and surrounding areas. The next part of the assignments were to try different arrangements for the units. We had to work with a 12' x 24' box and two 12' x 8' boxes. We went into the wood shop and cut out massing models to play with the arrangements of the large box and smaller two boxes and the different units together.

I also did some unit arrangements in CAD:

My final design of the unit used the main 12'x24' box for food prep, gathering area, and storage for the evacuees who would be staying in these shelters, and the two additional boxes would be for sleeping 4-6+ people. One of my concern for the units was ventilation, since these shelters would have no AC/electricity I designed my box to have operable louvers to allow for easy cooling for the spaces & also lighting. The idea was basically to be like a step up from camping. The arrangements of the units together on the site created public & private spaces, depicted in the diagrams below. I wanted to keep the Oglethorpe Square as a square and still allow for the public to use it, I didn't want the square to be lost in the my plan.

Above are the sketch up model arrangements on the site, and the physical model I made of the unit arrangements. The central area within the units could be used perhaps as a garden area while the evacuees are living there, or even a just an open green space for the surrounding units.

Orthographic drawings of unit design

Collage of unit, the story for the collage was the idea of children seeking shelter & protection in times of trouble

Elevation of site

The site plan shows the layout of tall the unit arrangements on the site, the two areas on President St would be public areas, as well as the central area which would be a playground for the children who would possibly be living there as well.

These diagrams help depict the site plan a little better. The walkways shows the paths on the site, for the public as well as the evacuees who would be living there. In the private to public diagram the darker would be the most private and the lightest would be to most public. The buildings diagram shows the building placements on the site as well as the public space diagram.

Okay, so I've tried to share with you my project & ideas, and I apologize if I've left somethings out, or confused you in any way! :) Feel free to ask me any questions, or if you have any comments/ critiques!

That concludes the summer studio projects, from now on out the blog will be more about urban design & community planning, and my experience in the Master of Urban Design program.