Flat Pack Housing - How Can It Be Done Better?

As I see it very few refugees have jobs while being a refugee so why can't they be put to work building their own houses?

If a person is not willing to go look for work why should they get to live any better than what ever the bare basics of handouts gives them?

If you want to work like a bum then live like one.

This country was built by refugees......Masses of people fleeing drought, war, natural disasters, oppressive regimes and other forces, should be assisted with temporary housing and food, it's the humanitarian thing to do....if you are able....

Perhaps difficult to build your house in a foreign country on land that you don't own and not want to stay on?

That is largely where proving yourself as being useful comes in.

Make yourself useful and the odds are someone will make it possible for you to move to someplace you would want to be.

The problem for the refugees usually isn't the labor, it's the materials. Most refugee camps are on wasteland that has little useful that can be assembled into a shelter. What little that will burn is quickly scavenged for cooking fires. Most of these places don't have a forest of trees nearby, and building a shelter of rocks (usually the rubble of wrecked buildings) needs some sort of cement or adhesive to assemble. Water is in short supply for drinking and washing, so there's no way it's going to be enough to mix concrete or even adobe. There's usually no way they can build their own shelters.

This shelter is a good idea. I have had contact with a church / mission in Central America that has used a similar structure made of 2x4s and plywood panels that they have provided to poverty-stricken families who are living in shacks (often just windbreaks made of scrap sheetmetal and cardboard). The "houses" can be assembled in a day by a handful of people, and cost about $3000 if I remember correctly. The Ikea alternative is a good, pre-fab approach.

I think you're confusing "refugee" with "immigrant."

Your idea has some limited merit, and I wouldn't be surprised if refugees are enlisted and happy to improve their camps' conditions. But doesn't "refugee" mean that you intend your stay to be temporary?

Also remember that when you reach your camp you're likely in need of a few days' rest.

How about a hypercube?

"With the average time spent in refugee camps being around 12 years,..."

A 3 year design life would seem to fall short of the required average time of need....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q4vjVr_EVM

Maybe they could coat them with plastic bags, they are said to last up to 20 years....and do seem to be plentiful,,,,,and a nuisance....

Hey! could you spare a few bags?

http://sandiego.surfrider.org/la-countys-bag-ban-and-day-without-a-bag-on-dec-16th-5-7-pm

http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/coastal/trash/documents/marine_debris.pdf

The plastic bag and help thy self might be the start of some interesting 'value added' shelter. While said somewhat tongue in cheek, there could be the the germ of a good idea here.Take the plastic bag, (life: days to 20 years), inflated, knot tied and stacked together in layers could be the start of a thermal insulated wall, floor and roof. And yes the exposed plastic bags will breakdown in the sun, but that can be the trigger to move on, or if not motivated, add more layers.

And for the engineering input, there could be some thought into what sizes should be the 'lego-like' 3D simple timber moulding system, so the inflated bags can be glued together into panels that can be fitted together. And I am sure that there would be some self help thinking locals on the ground that given guidance would be in business selling/leasing the panels in hours.

OK ... so I challenge you all to think about the panel sizes, how water might be collected and stored, cooking is done safely, LED lighting added, maybe simple fast growing vegetables/fruit are grown on site ... and how the community with the survival basics taken care of, move on to a better life, and leave the plastic bags behind them.

They use plastic bags to make all sorts of stuff.....

http://www.instructables.com/id/HomemadePlastic/

Plastic bag crafts for all.....

Ick itsa germ !!!

Thanks SolarEagle ... I had forgotten about making plastic bags into wheels, then gears .... !

As for getting rid of the bastards that started the situation, shelter to allow empowering educating to grow is surely a start. See "the power of education in effecting change".

Escaping persecution is only one reason for emergency shelter options. Floods, earth quakes and even major bush fires and tornadoes can generate an immediate need. And as for durability / life, why can't there be options for 3 months, a year or even 3 years.
(And if emergency shelter is needed for a longer period, then move to a replacement structure and repeat the shelter cycle).

So if we say that tents alone are not an option, why not a double skin tent that is foam filled on site to form the appropriate structure? So can we do it better?

fwiw, flat-packs are one of the standard construction methods in the war zone, they arent a new development. the other standard methods are: k-spans (originally called quonset huts), sometimes with spray foam insulation inside, tents, sometimes double layer or with spray foam insulation outside, RLBs aka connex's or shipping containers aka ISO's, with the insides made into offices or living quarters. and one more: frame-master buildings with standing seam sheeting for walls.