Ikea refugee temporary housing

[eridani]

http://www.upworthy.com/i-can-barely-put-together-an-ikea-table-let-alone-build-an-ikea-house-but-this-is-a-smart-idea?c=upw1

Johan Karlsson: These are the refugee housing unit's panels. They are very, very lightweight and they are durable. They provide insulation and they fit right onto the frame. These can last up to 3 years.

Olivier Pierre Delarue: In a refugee camp, typically at 6 o'clock, it becomes dark.Refugee tents have no power at all, so no lights for homework and sewing, cooking,and eating.

Johan Karlsson: This is the solar panel that we developed especially for the housing units. It provides electricity to run lights indoors and also energy into your necessities. Lastly, we developed a shade net. It may look like a very simply product, but it makes a significant difference. It reflects the heat, which means that in the daytime you have a cooler environment, but in the night time it reflects back the heat, so you then have it a bit warmer. This is something that a tent or a tarp does not do. If you would not be impressed by the look of it, you would see a significant difference when you're living inside it.

Olivier Pierre Delarue: We are starting to test these shelters in Ethiopia, Dhigal, and Somalia, learning from the feedback from refugees in order to fine-tune the design of the shelter.

Jonathan Spampinato: A home is important, but these children also need quality healthcare, they need an education, and they need a decent family income, so we've entered into along-term partnership with the UN Refugee Agency so that they can provide healthcare and education and training skills to refugee children and their families in Bangladesh, Sudan, and Ethiopia. And not just with the families and children that live in the camps, but also the surrounding communities.

Olivier Pierre Delarue: No doubt that in near future, we will continue to make improvements to this shelter, but one thing is for sure: thanks to the IKEA Foundation, UNHCR is bringing an innovative approach to an old problem - giving refugee children and their families a safer place to call home.

[planetc]

1. Chock full of good ideas

A lego house for real families, with light at night, and the improved version is on the drawing board. Could we get some for the homeless? I think that refugees are not the only market for basic houses.