الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Nowadays many Architects are more concerned about finding innovative solutions for creating temporary shelters for refugees, victims of crises and communities in need. Nevertheless, there is still a lack in Egypt of managing humanitarian disasters and offering practical emergency settlements. Although there is portable unit production in Egypt, it is rarely used. This necessitates the search for new strategies to create adaptable portable spaces that can be used as accommodation for homeless. In other words, architects should be more oriented to humanitarian design; by employing the technology available nowadays in order to satisfy the social needs. Creating flexible, self- sustained, low-cost, durable, mobile units that can be used as dwellings for homeless people could be one solution. It is not only refugees from humanitarian crises who need such portable spaces. There are many cases in Egypt that need adaptable mobile units, such as people who settle in the desert for specific missions or border guards in Sinai,.. etc. This thesis is concerned with the development of a mobile structure constructed from prefabricated recycled material (cardboard, straw,..etc) that is adaptable to disaster victims in Egypt. The choice of the material is based on its lifecycle, assembly techniques, mobility, durability and cost. The proposed mobile unit should be flexible, light weighted, easy to install and to be thermally adaptable to the surrounding environmental conditions. The unit can be simulated as a cell or pod that has minimum space that includes the living necessities of accommodation. Hence, the main goal of this research is to develop an efficient design approach for mobile shelters that is adaptable to Egypt’s climate. The aforementioned objectives are achieved in this thesis through applying the following methodology. First, the basic needs and social demands of the homeless are introduced in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 focuses on mobile architecture by reviewing its development through history to realize its value in. An analysis of some successful international portable units and the materials used in their building envelope is carried out in Chapter 3 in order to select a feasible building material for the empirical work. As a result, corrugated cardboard was chosen for the proposed shelter. Chapter 4 proposes an analysis of corrugated cardboard as a building material. In particular, it studies the properties, potentials and limitations of corrugated cardboard. Chapter5 serves as a guideline for the empirical work. It presents the simulation methodology and sets the parameters of different proposals. Using EnergyPlus a series of investigations are done in Chapter 6 to evaluate the thermal performance of corrugated cardboard in Egypt. An analytical comparison between the different proposals in terms of thermal comfort is given. The results show that corrugated cardboard is a feasible building material that can adapt to Egypt’s climate. Finally, the research re-examines the achievement of the goals set, and the validity of the hypothesis claimed in Chapter1. It ends by proposing some recommendations that would help achieving the aim of the thesis. |