Insulated Membrane Kit for Emergency Shelters: Product Development and Evaluation of Three Different Concepts

The paper deals with the development of a novel winterized textile partition to accommodate refugees during a humanitarian crisis. The research has been developed within S(P)EEDKITS, a four year research project (March 2012 - February 2016) in which research institutes, universities, companies operating in the emergency sector and non-profit organizations have rethought shelters, medical care resources and other facilities provided in case of natural disaster and conflicts. The S(P)EEDKITS project aimed to scrutinize materials and equipment of the Emergency Response Units (ERUs) that are currently used by humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and to develop novel solutions which drastically reduce their deployment time, the volume and weight for transportation. Solutions needed to be clever and durable enough so that the affected population can use them also during the reconstruction phase. This dual approach - speed and seed - was crucial as the recent trend in emergency aid for organizations is not only to stimulate as early as possible the self-repair, but also to support the transitional period and the reconstruction. Starting from a detailed analysis of the state of the art, the research group of Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) worked on the design of innovative shelter solutions and their packages, in order to add values in terms of ease of transport and set up. Through the multidisciplinary approach that involved several partners of the collaborative project, a list of metrics scored three diverse shelter concepts; one of them was prototyped in ten units and tested by Senegal and Luxembourg Red Cross delegations. Insulated Membrane Kit for Emergency Shelters: Product Development and Evaluation of Three Different Concepts. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307475459_Insulated_Membrane_Kit_for_Emergency_Shelters_Product_Development_and_Evaluation_of_Three_Different_Concepts [accessed Apr 19, 2017]

S(P)EEDKITS & smart packaging. Nuove applicazioni tessili per ridefinire la risposta alle emergenze

Il saggio traccia una visione d'insieme di S(P)EEDKITS, un progetto di ricerca co-finanziato dall'Unione Europea nell'ambito del Programma Quadro FP7 e, in particolare, si concentra sulle attività in corso da parte del Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) sui due diversi fronti del Design Industriale e della Tecnologia dell'architettura. L'ambito della progettazione dei nuovi kit di pronto intervento e ricostruzione in situazioni di disastro delinea una nuova frontiera per la Tecnologia dell'architettura, che si trova a coniugare la tradizionale vocazione della progettazione di componenti con le ricerche innovative sui tessili tecnici e sulle costruzioni leggere

closing the loops in textile architecture innovative strategies and limits of introducing biopolymers in membrane structures

Biopolymers have been increasingly introduced in some application sectors, such as food packaging, fashion, and design objects, while the typical technical textiles for architecture remain polymeric composites, based on the use of non-renewable resources. In lightweight construction and textile architecture, the introduction of novel materials requires a long process of verification of their performances, in order to guarantee the safety levels required by building standards. The paper aims to focus on potentiality and constrains to the application of more eco-friendly coated textiles, woven, and non-woven membranes in architecture. The paper proposes a couple of strategies and best practices to be applied in lightweight architecture: (1) creating fabrics from recycled fibers, on the one hand, and (2) acting on the coating with biopolymers, on the other hand. Eventually, the paper focuses on some recent experimental research led by the authors at the ABC Department, on the environmental assessment of ultra-lightweight materials, based on the LCA methodology

novel textile based solutions of emergency shelters case studies and field tests of s p eedkits project

The design of the first aid and reconstruction kits in major disaster scenarios highlights a new frontier for Technology of Architecture and Lightweight construction expertise, combining the traditional vocation of component design with innovative research on technical textiles. After an overview of S(P)EEDKITS—a project which received funding from the EU FP7—the essay focuses on research activities conducted by the ABC Department at Politecnico di Milano on the sustainable design applied to textile-based shelters. The essay also presents the results of two field tests conducted in Burkina Faso (2013–2014) and in Senegal (2015–on going), evaluating the environmental performances of shelters developed by the authors. The research was conducted in collaboration with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Netherlands Red Cross, the Medecins sans Frontieres (Operational centre of Amsterdam),—Operational centre of Amsterdam, Sioen Industries NV, Ferrino SpA, and with researchers of Vrije Universiteit of Brussel and Eindhoven Technische Universiteit

Knowledge transfer into a system design process: the case study of “S(P)EEDKITS - rapid deployable kits as seeds of self-recovery”.

This contribution presents the case study of S(P)EEDKITS, a four-year collaborative research project co-funded within the Seventh Framework Programme, activity: Security (SEC-2011.4.2-3, grant agreement no. 284931). The project involved 15 European partners including humanitarian organizations, research centers, academia and private enterprises, for the development of rapid deployable, modular and lightweight kits toimplementthe Emergency Response Units (ERUs) already in use by humanitarian organizations for emergency response. This article focuses on the knowledge transfer in a systemic design process, with a multidisciplinary and horizontal approach. The paper goes through in particular the activities carried out by the Politecnico di Milano, which was directly committed in the design of packaging and modularity of the ERUs

Addition Strategy and Multi-Layered Envelopes in Building Adaptation: A Methodological Framework

This article proposes an approach to rehabilitation processes based on adaptation, focusing on the re-use of existing, obsolete and redundant building stocks in alternative to strategies that rely on demolition followed by construction, which have high energetic and environmental impacts. The proposed approach also defines an intervention strategy that relies mainly on the transformation of the building envelope. In particular, the implications of “addition strategies” - that consist in the introduction along the whole façade or part of it of a new multidimensional envelope (from very low depths till around 250 cm) – will be evaluated from several viewpoints: qualitative, spatial/functional, structural, constructive, energetic, environmental. Within this approach, the adoption of lightweight innovative materials - ensuring hi-performance in terms of structural efforts and thermal behavior - can play a significant role, maximizing the benefits of the refurbishment project, while at the same time it minimizes, when possible, the modifications to be carried out inside. The final goal of the article is to highlight how the crescent application of advanced materials in refurbishment projects can be a crucial resource for the sector of the transformation and building reuse

Textiles and Archaeological Sites: Towards a Methodology for Designing Lightweight Protective Structures

The shelter for archaeological areas aims to protect ruins from damages, in order to preserve their historical values, while the excavation work represents a destructive action. The shelter design process for archaeological areas includes dealing with some contradictions, due to the multiplicity of constraints and the complexity of the application contexts. The article aims to state the appropriate use of membranes and temporary structures in these fragile environments through a new concept of textile lightweight solution coming from a decision support matrix. In this applicative example, the elasticity of the proposed textile material – that is a polyurethane-coated knitted textile – and its combination with a bending-active structural element, become a key aspect for reconfiguring the whole system to different sets of problems. The example therefore understands active bending as an approach to generating new structural forms, in which common load bearing behavior is found due to the structures inherently large elasticity and inner stress state