Designing Modular Temporary Shelter Based on User Centered Design for Survivors of Natural Disasters

Today many cities around the world are subject to the risks and damages caused by the natural disasters. Every now and then, the world witnesses natural disasters at various degrees of severity, leading not only to human casualties and destruction of homes, but also to displacement of many people.  On average, three million people are driven out of their homes every year due to natural disasters, of whom 80% are earthquake victims. Due to lower structural strength of houses in the developing countries, destruction resulting from such natural disasters as earthquake and flooding occurs on a larger scale, leading to a greater number of displacements. Many people lose their homes to natural disasters every year. Today, a large number of cities around the world are prone to damages caused by natural disasters. Iran is no exception in this regard, and, in recent years, different natural disasters including floods and earthquakes have led to a record high number of displaced people. Survivors need to be provided with shelters as soon as possible so that they can regain their mental stability. After a natural disaster strikes a large area, the residential areas largely become uninhabitable and the survivors need to be placed in temporary shelters. So far, emergency shelters have been designed and built in the form of tents made available to the survivors in great numbers. However, such tents are largely incompatible with the cultural and other needs of their users. In addition, tents are not strong enough to withstand variable atmospheric conditions. In fact, living in such tents only adds to the many problems these victims already have to endure. Providing Shelters in the form of conex homes also entails difficulties in speedy settlement of the survivors because of transportation problems, leading to the victims’ being exposed to aggressive environmental conditions for long periods. In this research, 95 volunteers in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran, were studied. The user-oriented design method was implemented. This method has been used efficiently to design highly efficient products adaptable to their users’ needs. The user-centered method focuses on the real needs of users as well as the context of product use. In the next step, the required data were as well as the keywords obtained from the survivors during the survey and interview phases were used for setting forth the design criteria. For this reason the criteria for designing the standard settlement in accordance with the needs of users were extracted. Upon carrying out the brainstorming phase – i.e., proposing the relevant design ideas – the conceptual designs as well as small-scale models (prototypes) were prepared and further modified based on the users’ suggestions. The preliminary and secondary designs were reviewed and tested several times. The overall results showed that relief tents did not adequately meet the survivors’ needs and that the survivors preferred quickly constructed shelters with private spaces, which were simultaneously capable of withstanding harsh weather conditions.