paper log homes for disaster victims

[DELUSIONAL]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/scene/20060415TDY12001.htm

Surviving in style: Architect builds paper log homes for disaster victims

Architect Shigeru Ban has won growing fame for his innovative use of similar objects <paper tubes found to roll t.p. or paper towels on>, though he uses much larger, thicker versions he often calls "paper logs."

<snip>
His most important work appears in much less glamorous settings, such as the refugee camps that sprang up in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It was Ban's idea to use paper tubes as tent poles to provide quick shelter.

"At first the U.N. just provided plastic sheets, and the refugees had to cut trees down to make a frame," Ban said in an interview at his architectural firm's office in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo. There were 2 million refugees, he said, leading to "very significant deforestation."

The United Nations began to supply aluminum pipes to use as tent frames, but many of these were diverted to the black market.

"Then I proposed using paper tubes," Ban said.

One advantage of cardboard tubes is that they have no intrinsic value that makes them likely to be stolen. Another advantage is that they don't even need to be imported.

"Making paper tubes is very easy and simple," Ban said, adding that machines can be brought to camps to enable people to make their own.

[uppityperson]

1. Interesting way of using locally available inexpensive materials.

I wonder what you could do with plastic bags (from grocery store) since they are everywhere in USA also.

[northofdenali]

2. I heard of this, too - and there are also

houses made from discarded car/truck tires, straw bale, even soda cans.

The straw bale homes have fabulous insulation and a very high rating for fire safety.