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

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

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

Finite-element analysis and design optioneering of an emergency tent structure

The paper focuses on the structural analysis of the “Multipurpose Shelter - Type 2” (T2 MP), designed and prototyped by the authors during the research activities of the European collaborative project S(P)EEDKITS. Research institutes, universities, non-profit organizations and manufacturers designed novel shelters concepts, medical care resources and other facilities provided in case of emergency. Specifically, this contribution proposes an optimized solution of the tent structure, in order to meet the UNICEF criteria for collective tents

Assemblage: la libertà costruttiva. Il progetto d'abitazione mediante elementi industriali e kit personalizzabili

Il testo propone una rilettura del tema della progettazione per componenti edilizi di stampo industriale, alla luce delle profonde modificazioni che in questi ultimi tempi hanno interessato i diversi comparti dell'edilizia. Nel rinnovato scenario industriale "post-fordista" l'architetto si trova a dover ripensare le modalità di scelta dei prodotti che compongono l'edificio e forse addirittura a rivedere l'intero processo progettuale che prelude alla costruibilità di un manufatto edilizio. Grazie agli strumenti software che facilitano l'interfaccia tra i progettisti e le aziende dei prodotti edilizi, si può sempre più realizzare abitazioni "su misura" a partire dalla scelta sapiente di elementi a catalogo