A Parametric Process for Shelters and Refugees' Camps Design

Overview & Synopsis

Many situations related to natural environment and human activities increase the risk related to housing and create a demand for rapid post-disaster solutions. The solutions implemented by both the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the local and national organizations should fulfill the requirements of the temporarily displaced populations. However post-disaster design faces many challenges in its process making the response always more complex. At the same time, computer-based design is a growing approach in both architectural practice and research. The research described in this paper aims to help in finding solutions to design issues by addressing the potential of computer-based architectural design support. It is applied to shelter and camp development and takes into account physical, contextual and climatic parameters. The outcome is a design process for shelter and camp, which has been validated by a parametric prototype experiment in a case study. This should support humanitarian teams and contribute to enhancing the quality of design as well as to reducing the time required for the design and construction processes.