1 ATTENTION: The Singapore Copyright Act applies to the use of this document. Nanyang Technological University Library.

FYP Project Number: 04.12. 088779E17

NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ART, DESIGN & MEDIA

ComShell

Submitted by: Ng Yin Seng

Supervisor: Senior Lecturer Fabrizio Galli

A Final Year Project submitted to the School of Art, Design & Media, Nanyang Technological University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

Degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Product Design.

Academic Year 2011/2012

2 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to sincerely thank all these fellow good folks who have rendered tremendous support and

guidance throughout the gruelling process of this final year project:

Senior Lecturer Fabrizio Galli (FYP Supervisor)

For his persistence in guiding me to deliver to my maximum, and always encouraging & giving good advice

conceptually and technically throughout the whole design process.

Visiting Professor Kirti Trivedi

For his great knowledge, wisdom and vision shared during the past year he was lecturing in ADM. He had

been a great source of motivation for me personally and for my final year project as well.

Assistant Professor Peer M. Sathikh

For his direct and truthful yet sometime hurtful advice on improvements to the final year project proposal.

Lecturer Jeffery Hong

For imparting all the necessary 3D modelling skills needed to complete the project.

Workshop Executive Patrick Liew

For imparting his knowledge and assistance in model-making needed to complete the project.

My Family

For just being there for me emotionally or financially when I needed them (parents), and also the presence of

my two adorable and playful sons who constantly reminds me of my priorities in life.

Fellow Product Design Undergrads

For sharing, enduring and enjoying this 4 year long process as an undergrad. We all may have our

differences and conflicts during these past 3 years but I sincerely hope that we could all still keep in touch as

competitors and friends even after graduation. In addition let’s all graduate and contribute to the society as

responsible, thoughtful designers.

         

3 

ABSTRACT

The idea of the possibilities of creating and witnessing a new integrated sustainable living, working and

recreational infrastructure using existing technology for displaces in a natural disaster situation intrigues my

senses to dream up an ‘ENABLER’ fulfilling their essential needs in this modern urban environment.

It is hence in times of emergency, especially after a natural disaster that fast quality deployment of shelter,

food, water and communication devices (modern times) are essential for survival. Efficient food, water and

shelter distribution is an important factor for the displaced people.

However some current shelters are built on an unsustainable model depending solely on foreign aids, with

little or no initiative from these locals to self-help especially in an urban setup. Conflicts and crimes against

the old, sick and weak arises are also a common problem due to the crowded living arrangements. Hence a

liveable self- sustainable, recyclable shelter, housing 10-16 people for a period of 6 months to 2 years or

even more would be an ideal solution before relocation to new rebuilt living spaces.

                               

4 

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 02

ABSTRACT 03

INTRODUCTION

Motivation 05

Objectives 06

RESEARCH

Situation and Condition 07

Products and Market Studies 10

Infrastructure, Technology and Sustainability 12

PROCESS

Exploration 14

Setting Parameters 16

Developments 17

Refinements and Finalization 20

PROTOTYING

Scale-down Model 25

CONCLUSION 27

BIBLIOGRAPHY 28

5 

INTRODUCTION

Motivation

Looking at how our planet Earth have evolved through 4.5billion years to become what it is today, and how

human existence and civilization is only a few million years and few centuries ago respectively, it is amazing

to see how we had progressed and ‘self-destructed’ our own evolution within such a short period of time.

Feeling a lot of empathy for the people who had their lives and properties destroyed by frequent natural

disaster within these past 10 years, it seems inevitable to do something for them in my capacity. It also seen

logical to create something to safeguard human lives and properties as tectonic activities are typical in the

lifecycle of a planet.

Thus after some research and reading through some United Nation’s reports, the actual damages and

sufferings in areas affected by natural disaster are not as detrimental as compared to areas of conflicts and

poor governance in the long term. These areas of disastrous human settlements are not given much media

attention and humanitarian assistance as compared to areas hit by natural disaster due to the lesser visual

impacts on media, long term financial and political involvement, difficult and challenging resettlement, land

tenure programs and information/ data collections & dissemination. And from UN’s statistical information,

only 30% of the world land tenure is properly recorded and updated hence proper and efficient assistance or

planning are always hindered during and after emergency, therefore proper and up-to-date data collection

and storage are extremely vital in these situations. In addition with appropriate data it can also contribute to

the long term and future urban and infrastructure planning for governmental and international organization.

In addition the immediate needs for these distressed populations are shelter, medicine, food and water hence

the highest priority is to provide these basic amenities in the shortest timeframe possible. Shelters to house

people, store medicine, food and water, and the catalyst to rebuild the area become a very essential part in

the reconstruction process. However as almost all the temporary or transitional shelters utilized were

designed more towards a functional basis to meet the needs, locality, geographical, building and material

conditions for the moment, most of these shelters become obsolete or in-proper permanent dwellings after a

period of time. This is so as none or very little temporary and transitional shelter are designed to be

sustainable, humane, happy, and an intelligent accommodation.

6 

Objectives

This project will be to design a dwelling system, using existing material and technology, to provide the

distressed population in an urban setting with a sustainable transitional-permanent, happy and intelligent

shelter for a prolong period of uncertainty.

- Sustainable: Self-sufficient, Biodegradable, Educational and Transitional.

- Happy: Self-decision, Co-participatory, Social Integration, Design and Planning Involvement.

- Intelligent: Technology Integration, Data Storage Integration and Architecture Pluralism.

- Integrated System: Something like the Photoshop where it provides a comprehensive common

platform for ideas generations.

Humanity design, system design, collaborative designs pluralism and bio and nano-technology advancement

are research areas to look into during development and implementation. Hopefully this project may inspire

the current architectural and urban planning scene to look and relook at the engagement and interaction

between human, building and nature in a sustainable and profitable notion as well. Thus I hope this

exploration can incite everyone to be more involved in building a more diverse, colorful and sustainable

future (a system for the people by the people). And I will then like to quote from R.Buckminster Fuller in

Advanced Design Science at World Resources Inventory, 1965-1975:

“Advanced Design is distributed, plural and collaborative…We will distribute capacity…We will embrace

paradox…We will reshape the future”.

7 

RESEARCH

Situation and Condition

Figure1: Image of the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake

(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_u7ryccJN3ZQ/TSPnxOx4xqI/AAAAAAAAEZM/C-uegMpl5wQ/s1600/sichuan-earthquake-

07.jpg )

In these past 50 years, rapid urbanization has brought about huge wealth and modernization to the world. In

the process, it has also brought about another phenomenon of massive human immigration into these

modernised cities. Thus at the moment it is estimated that 50 percent of the current 7 billion world

population lives in urban area (figures from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-

factbook/geos/xx.html), and by 2050 it is assess that the world population would double with 80 percent

living in the urban settings; furthermore with the deteriorating of our natural environment and poor city

infrastructure planning and construction due to our rapid development, these contribute to the increase of

natural hazards to the built urbanised world.

And the impacts of these events are un-measureable in terms of lost lives and property. Furthermore

according to statistic from Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), earthquakes

accounted for nearly 60 percent of the people killed by disasters as can be justified from the recent 2008

Sichuan earthquake which kills an estimate of 68000 people. These huge numbers of fatality includes those

killed by poor collapsing buildings infrastructure (Fig.1), diseases, inadequate supplies of essential needs and

poor after disaster planning.

Thus with the more recent 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, we can also witnessed how inadequate the

after-disaster planning and aid was even for a develop country like Japan. However this also brought about

an opportunity to reshape and rethink the aid system in a natural disaster. As most of the disastrous natural

8 calamity will be widely broadcast in modern times, huge amount of reliefs from everywhere will come

flooding in to help the affected region, it is also a good time to implement and rebuild sustainable living

building and infrastructure system for the future. Hence UNHABITAT from the United Nations had also

draught out a rough time plan and guideline for the land use and reconstruction of the disaster affected area

as shown in Fig.2 and Table1.

Figure2: Rebuilding Process Timeline (Land and Natural Disaster – Guidance for Practitioners, UNHABITAT, pg26)

Table1: Rebuilding Process Guidelines (Land and Natural Disaster – Guidance for Practitioners, UNHABITAT, pg26)

However the process of implementation of the time and guideline will differ from situation to situation due

to the political, financial, climatic, social, cultural and geographical condition of the affected region.

From the timeline, we can assume that during the first few months after a natural disaster where it received

lots of media coverage, the affected area and people will be quite well taken care of due to its global appeal.

However after the first few months where the greater work of rebuilding and re-housing these displaced

9 people become crucial, little attention and effort towards the current living condition of the displace is

projected. Hence we can notice that conflicts and crimes against the old, sick and weak arises due to the

crowded living arrangements as shown in Fig.3.

Figure3: Image of overcrowding of homeless people sheltered in a school hall.

(http://www.earthquakejapan2011.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/homeless-people-shelter-after-earthquake-and-

tsunami.jpg)

Thus due to the lengthy period of 1 year to 2 years or even more for all buildings and infrastructure to be

rebuilt to a liveable standard, it is also important to house these weaker communities in proper sustainable

shelter before they can be moved into proper housing.

10 

Products and Market Studies

Catering to the basic needs for the modern people in a distress environment of an urban setup is to essentially

provide them with food, water, shelter, communication ability and maybe even more facilities for the

transitional period of time before they are able to be integrated back into the new environment. And to quote

from Elizabeth Babister, a shelter advisor, “These are ‘transitional’ as opposed to ‘temporary.’ Emergency

shelter is temporary and is intended just to provide shelter for survival. Transitional implies something that is

longer-term and gives you space to carry out livelihood activities rather than just surviving.”- (Design like

You Give a Damn), hence it is important to not just built an unsustainable shelter but to create a housing

system that caters to this requirement of carrying out livelihood activities. In addition the materials used to

create these transitional shelters should be also reusable as building material for the permanent housing in the

future. The ‘Maasai Integrated Shelter Project, ‘Lucy House’, ‘Hopi Nation Elder Home’, ‘Bayview Rural

Village and ‘Quinta Monroy Housing Project’ are some examples of transformation of transitional housing to

permanent housing.

Furthermore there are also a few interesting singular housing structure currently employed in some parts of

the world which caters to the transitional needs of the locale. Fig.4 shows a 2 person self-constructed

laminate foldable flat-packed housing structure by Ferrara Design Inc for Grenada community. It is a

transitional shelter for 3-4 persons for a period of 8 to 12 months which cost around US$400. It is very

affordable housing but it does not have the provision for sustainable living with no sanitary, water and

electrical consideration. In addition the size of the housing is pretty tight and short for a comfortable urban

shelter setup.

Figure4: Image of setting up a transitional shelter (Global Village Shelters, Design like You Give a Damn, pg74)

11 

Figure5: Images of container type transitional shelter (Small Structure XS Green Architecture, pg152&168)

The images in Fig.5 showcased another type of transitional housing where consideration for provision of

basic amenities is contemplated. However these spaces may be too personal, well-furnish and costly to be

considered as a form of transitional shelter. And in Fig.6, the transitional-permanent shelter is a clever design

solution using geographical advantage and material in constructing. It is also a sustainable project that

involves the local community to engage and participate in creating their new living environment. In addition

the families can also increase their living spaces when their families can bigger by adding another

SuperAdobe structures to the existing one easily. A clever solution based on the locality of the project but

could not be considered for an urban transitional setup due to a lack of natural material.

Figure6: Image of Superadobe Structures (Small Structure XS Green Architecture, pg101)

Considering that it is quite costly and time-consuming to create different transitional housing solutions for

each and every unique after-disaster situation, it is more sensible to research into creating a self-sustaining

integrated ‘living’ system which can fit into any shelters, coverings or containers. And the best part of all is

12 that it is possible to create this system in our time by amalgamating existing technological advancement into

a working organism. Some may say that this type of modern technological proposal is not meant for

developing worlds where it is too expensive and advance. However I want to quote this phrase from Bruce

Mau’s Massive Change, “…leapfrog over the twentieth century utilities infrastructure right into the twenty-

first century”, and from U.S. President John F.Kennedy speech to the Irish Parliament in Dublin, June 1963,

“The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by

the obvious realities. We need people who can dream of things that never were”, it is then for us to dream

and create this system to solve the situation no matter who the end-users are.

In addition just to quote from U.S. President Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summer, “Nobody’s ever

wash a rented car”, hence in providing these displace with a better transitional-permanent shelters, they could

take ownership of the place and give enough care to maintain the good living condition. And in a worst case

scenario where relocating into a new rebuilt environment is impossible or takes a much longer period, these

transitional shelters can be converted into permanent dwellings for the displace as well.

Infrastructure, Technology and Sustainability

Thus to achieve this possibility of creating this working organism, it is essential to look at the basic needs of

the modern urban dwellers and its accompanying technological advancement. And ideally it has to be a self-

sustainability system which is able to generate, reuse and recycle Energy, Water, Food, and Waste.

With Energy, we are referring to electricity which powered daily common appliances for living, working and

recreation. Thus at the moment the worldwide community are eagerly inventing new green technologies to

utilise solar, geothermal, wind and water energy sources to replace our reliance on oil reserves. And to quote

again from Mr. Bruce Mau, “Solar power: All energy is solar energy, stored in different forms. Every two

minutes the sun gives the earth more energy than is used annually worldwide. It is the only renewable

resource with the capacity to provide all the energy we need on a global level” -Massive Change, page79.

Hence it is natural for solar energy to may be permanently replaced oil as a main form of power in the future.

Images from Fig.7 show a simple illustration of a typical setup of a solar panel system and an image of a

typical solar tracker panel.

Figure7: Image of solar energy conversion and storage system, and a typical solar tracker panel

13 Water is the most important needs to sustain lives hence it is inevitable that most shelters will be located in or

near areas with water sources and in cities near water outlets. However due to the scarcity of water after a

massive destruction, it is difficult to provide and sustain a normal person minimum water usage due to

destroyed infrastructure and probably water contamination. And to sustain and to work towards rebuilding a

new safe sustainable future, it is sensible to generate, reuse and recycle usable water. Hence with the huge

amount of research done in current times on low or no energy water purification process, it is now possible to

suggest a low or no energy water purification and usage system into an emergency transitional shelter.

Example like the “Aquaporin Membrane Technology” by Jensen Peter Holme and “Forward Osmosis

Process and Nano-Membrane” technology by Hydration Technology Innovations (HTI) and Eastman

Chemicals are good example of sustainable technology. Fig.8 shows the current product by Eastman

Chemicals and HTI for individual usage in emergency. Hence in the near future, we would be able to purify

water in large quantity without or with little power as long as there is water around.

Figure8: Image of Hydropack (http://www.htiwater.com/divisions/personal_hydration/index.html)

Another important needs to sustain lives is food hence if it is possible to give the displaced some abilities to

cultivate their own basic food crops, it will bring about another form of stability for the displace knowing

that they do not need to just rely on emergency help-outs to survive in the long term. Hydroponic Technology

using High Density Vertical Growth (HDVG) Panels (Fig.9) by Valcent Technologies is a form of vertical

agriculture which can produce a fair amount of food crops using very little space. Thus it can also function as

a heat barrier for the shelter hence keeping the space cool.

Figure9: Image of a typical HDVG Panels (http://greengardendesign.blogspot.com/2008/01/vertical-gardens-offers-

sustainable.html)

14 

PROCESS

Exploration

The main focus of the project is to research into the workability of integrating possible technological

advancement in the area of energy and food production, and water purification into a sustainable living

organism. Hence the ‘container’ that holds this system becomes secondary; it then becomes a catalyst to

bridge this interaction and connection of the system, humans and the built environment. In addition though

the ‘holder’ is of secondary importance, we would still like to explore the possibility of maximising space to

house a collective of displaced in a cohesive environment so as to be able to consolidate resources.

Below we will be looking at some examples available in the market of specifically containers as a proposed

living shelter. The images in Fig.10 showcase two Japanese internal interior arrangement of a small space

when it explores the possibilities of maximising the whole volume of a living space. And in Fig.11, it

showcases a portable/ moveable living area powered by solar energy alone for a small family setting.

Figure10: Images of Compact Living Spaces (Small Structure XS Green Architecture, pg146)

Figure11: Images of a 20 Foot Length Moving Solar-Powered House

15 Humans are intelligent collective mammals who enjoy companionship and social interaction to a certain

level. They still need their private spaces especially in this era. However an excessive of togetherness or

privacy would results in dire consequences especially in disaster situation where mass collective of people

living together under the same roof could result in crimes and conflicts; while spacing out could results in

inability to provide necessary aids and resources. Hence we will be looking at the likelihood of providing a

shelter which can house and sustain 10-16 people for a period of 6 months to 2 years or even more. Below

are some sketches of exploration of concept.

Figure12: Initial concept and proposal of common facilities and individual living area

The initial concept was to propose shared common facilities while the living spaces attached to the common

facilities as individual compartments for a family. In addition exploration on the possibility of easy on-site

construction, transportation and in-built mechanical & electrical infrastructure was investigated to create a

working system.

Figure13: Initial concept and proposal of common facilities and individual living area

16 

Figure14: Exploration on the possibilities of tripling a container space

The 40 foot container became an ideal holder due to its capacity and ability to be triple up in usable space as

illustrated in Fig.14. It also can be reused in one way or another due to it metallic structure and properties. In

addition there is an abundance of these almost really-to-use structures all around the world hence in times of

emergency they are very deployable with minimum construction needed to their existing structure.

Setting Parameters

Now we need to consider the essential elements need to run this container and it living occupants in a

sustainable manner. Below clearly list down the essential need to be considered for this proposed shelter:

ENERGY (electricity) – powered daily common appliances for LIVE, WORK & PLAY

Example - Solar, Geothermal, Wind and Water energy sources

WATER – drinking, cooking, cleaning and washing

Example - Rainwater, Ponds, Lakes & Sea, Used Water

FOOD – cultivation of simple crops or veg. for daily intake

WASTE – bio-fuel or bio-fertiliser for little agriculture purpose

- proper drainage and waste management to reprocess waste

SERVICES – shared communal social space and facilities for cleaning, cooking, playing

- more personal space for sleeping and resting

INSULTATION – Passive and mechanical cooling and heating possibility, vertical green

VENTILATION – Passive and ample air circulation concept to encourage interaction

MODULARITY – ability to manufacture at a faster pace esp. in time of emergency

17 With these considerations, some basic parameters are setup to fulfil these requirements. Below clearly

indicated a rough guideline on the requirements need to sustain 10-16 person daily needs:

ENERGY – 2000W (normal usage) solely on solar power for 10 person per year

2 sets of 8x1080A.h deep-cycle batteries to store this energy

WATER – From some statics: Daily usage per person in Africa is approximately 20litres.

Daily usage per person in USA is approximately 380litres.

Hence in the case of a transitional period, daily usage per person would be around 60-100litres.

SPACE – Minimum sleeping area with some storage for 4 persons: 2.5mL x 1.9mW x 2.2mH

Developments

This is the process where we integrated what was research and explored into physical possibilities with

sketches. The illustrations (Fig.15 &16) that follow show the progress of thoughts in formulating a possible

solution in the integration of space, technology and services.

Figure15: Development process of integration of space, technology and services

18 

Figure16: Development process of integration of space, technology and services

And in Fig.17, the illustration is showcasing how solar panels are integrated into the container; the proposed

flat roofing as rainwater collectors; creating skylight on top the container as natural lightings to brighten up

the otherwise dark internal space; and last of all walls are detachable for electrical, water piping and

insulation materials to be hidden between the sandwiched metal panels.

Figure17: Illustrations of integrated devices on container

19 In addition to create a more cooling environment inside the container, passive techniques such as vertical

greenery, roofs, large window openings and insulation material are employed to achieve a cool temperature

setting internally without the use of artificial cooling devices. Fig.18 and 19 illustrates the methods to realise

this motion.

Figure18: Illustrations of portable roof structure

Figure19: Illustrations of different insulation methods

20 

Refinements and Finalization

Having realising the workability of integrating these elements, more detailing and refinements are input into

completing the project into a feasible product. More detailed planning, technical and construction

understanding is contemplated into the final realisation of the proposed project.

Figure20: 3D illustrations of proposed container shelter

The illustration (Fig.20) above shows the overall entrance and rear view perspective of the proposed shelter.

Figure21: Overall dimension of proposed container shelter

21 Figure 21 above give us an overall perspective of the maximum size of the “opened” container shelter which

measured approximately 13000mm (L) by 7000mm (W) by 4500mm (H).

Figure22: Space planning and human traffic arrangement

The above illustration mapped out the space arrangements for the individual compartments, facilities and

services engaged to facilitate the liveability of the proposed shelter. The long main centre portion of the

container and the longest pull-out compartment will house the shared common kitchen, washing and sanitary

facilities. The sanitary area will consists of two shower cum toilet area, one common toilet and wash area.

The space created in the centre long container and the platform area in front of the entrance will provide

social interaction spaces for the social well-beings for mingling. The other three compartments will provide

more personal spaces for resting and sleeping. As per the illustration proposed, the basic accommodation

arrangement will be a minimum of 8 children and two female caretakers; however it is viable to changes

based on each individual situation.

Figure23: Water system engagement

22 

Figure24: Waste and water system engagement

And Fig.23 & 24 exemplified the durability of a well-thought water usage and purification system for

sustainable living. Rainwater and other form of water resource is collected by 6 water tanks and purified with

HTI’s forward osmosis water treatment technological system. The water tanks can store a maximum of 2400

litres of water and will have to be serviced every half a year. The treated water will be transported to the

kitchen, pantry & bathroom through PVC pipes embedded in-between metal panel sheets while the ‘Grey’

water from dish washer and washing machine will be reused for flushing before being drained away. Used

water from washing food and cleaning will be treated and reused for drinking and showering. The kitchen

will be equipped with a composer to compose bio-degradable waste and a small composing unit under the

container will also help to compose solid waste before disposal or using the compose as bio-fertiliser.

Figure25: Solar energy engagement

23 As per illustrated in Fig.25, solar energy is collected by the 6 solar trackers panels above the canvas roof.

Solar trackers panels are used as they are able to capture the most amount of solar power with their tracking

system. This raw power will then be converted into useable alternate current and stored within two battery

compartments before they are being used as electricity to power electrical and electronic devices.

Figure26: Vertical agriculture

Figure 26 showcase the idealisation of implementing vertical agriculture for food production in a transitional

shelter setup. As per discussed in the earlier research, there would be a possibility to setup this low energy

food production system with hydroponic technology using the HDVG panels. The vertical agriculture setup

also provides passive cooling services to the compartments. Thus Fig.27 illustrates the insulation and

ventilation techniques employed to keep the shelter cool enough to live in.

Figure27: Insulation and ventilation techniques

24 In addition with the initial considerations of reusing and recycling in mind, the primary building materials

proposed must be able to cycle as new or better material. Hence the main basic material used for construction

is metal due to its strength, formability and ease of application. Furthermore all components used to

construct this shelter will be made of a single material as far as possible to reduce the complexity and energy

consumed in separating material. It is estimated the cost to build this shelter is around US$60000 which in

conversion will cost 10 persons US$7.50 per person per day for a period of 2 years.

Illustration (Fig.28) showcases the on-site possibilities of the container shelter and some perspectives

(Fig.29) of the internal setup of the shelter.

Figure28: On site visualization

Figure29: Interior 3D visualization

25 

PROTOTYING

Scale-down Model

Due to the exact size of the container which measure around 12metre by 7metre by 4.5metre, it was not

possible in my capacity and resource to build a working prototype. Hence it was proposed to do a 1:20 scale-

down model with the rapid prototyping machine for the final presentation and graduation show to showcase

the concept. And due to the reduction in size, a fair amount of details were removed in the final 3D printed

model. It was done so as the machine was not able to print these fine dimensions. It was a bit disappointing

as if it was printed in a 1:10 scale, the 3D model could look more detailed. The material use for the

prototyping of this scale down model is ABS. Fig.30 show the physical dimension of the container which

later was scaled down to 1:20 for 3D model printing, and Fig.31to 34 showcase the finished scale-down

model of the proposed container shelter.

Figure30: Technical dimension

Figure31: Entrance view of container model

26 

Figure32: Side view of 3D prototyping model

Figure33: Overall view of 3D prototyping model from the top

Figure34: Internal view of the spaces within

27 

CONCLUSION

It had been a stressful and self-explorative year to come out with a meaningful proposal for the final year

project. There were a lot of conflicts of ideas and concepts between my supervisor and myself before being

able to formulate this proposal. Though lots of effort is put into this project, I am still not really quite

satisfied with the overall research and development. It is so as more research could have been done in the

engineering area so as to exactly figure out the correct connectivity and linkage of all the individual system

proposed. The project could have been more feasible and believable if the proposal had been a collaboration

of engineering, science and design students. Hence the project looks more like a vision for the near future

instead of a possible working proposal due to the lack of the right information.

The exploration of sustainable living even in a dire situation could also inspire other form of sustainable

creation in the future. And to design for the future, it is to design a full sustainable system of production

instead of the product itself. Hence this project may also demonstrate the benefits in creating a system that

considered the cycle of a product thereafter initiating the possibility of creating abundance. In addition it

could also be good to look at developing integrated building panel system which encompasses electronic,

electrical and mechanical services. In the end, it is a fulfilling year with more knowledge gained in the area

of integrated system design. (4992 words)

28 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Architecture for Humanity (2006). Design like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to

Humanitarian Crises. Los Angeles: Metropolis Books.

2. Emily Pilloton (2009). Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. Los Angeles: Metropolis

Books.

3. Nick Skeens & Liz Farrelly (2000). Future Present: It Just Takes One Good Idea. London: Booth-

Clibborn Editions.

4. David Bramston (2009). Basic Product Design: Material Thoughts. Lausanne: Ava Publishing.

5. Silvia Barbero, Brunella Cozzo & Paola Tamborrini (2009). ECODESIGN. Potsdam: hf ULLMANN.

6. Phyllis Richardson (2007). XS: Small Structures, Green Architecture. New York: Universe Publishing Inc.

7. Christopher Day (2003). Places for the Soul: Architecture and Environmental Design as a Healing Art.

Princeton: Architectural Press.

8. Jane Wernick (2008). Building Happiness. London: Black Dog Publishing.

9. Bruce Mau & the Institute without Boundaries (2004). Massive Change. London: Phaidon Press Limited.

10. S.Balaram (2011). Thinking Design. New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.

11. William McDonough & Michael Braungart (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make

Things. New York: North Point Press.

12. The Berlage Institute (2001). Hunch No.3 2001. Amsterdam: IDEAS Books.

13. Land and Natural Disasters: Guidance for Practitioners.

Copyright © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). 2010.

14. Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready, 2010-2011 World Disaster Reduction Campaign.

Copyright © United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR). 2011.

29 www.indexaward.dk

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earthquake-07.jpg

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earthquake-and-tsunami.jpg

http://www.htiwater.com/divisions/personal_hydration/index.html

http://greengardendesign.blogspot.com/2008/01/vertical-gardens-offers-sustainable.html