Emergency construction

This paper presents a research and some testing applications on the theme of emergency facilities and support for the fulfilments of basic needs in case of humanitarian emergencies. This activity is included in a declaration of intent between the Department of Building and Territorial Engineering (DIET) and International Organization for Migration (IOM), signed in 2009. It, now in its third year, has led to the creation of a design workshop open to students from the IV year of the Degree Course in Engineering / Architecture. The specific objective of the initiative is the formulation of operational solutions for the construction of shelter in emergency humanitarian assistance to be carried out with realistic data context, materials, technologies and costs. In particular, the design workshops related to the design of emergency shelters in Sri Lanka (2008-09) and the II Workshop on the design of transitional shelters in Haiti (2009-10) and the last, has just ended and the design of upgrade of existing transitional shelter in Haiti (2010-11). The interesting aspect is that every workshop’s theme was selected, year by year, with IOM’s references in order to meet real needs such as the civil war in Sri Lanka, the earthquake and tsunami in Haiti, in the belief that the cultural and social aspect is inextricably linked to the understanding of context in which they are located and in parallel to a detailed study on the resources and potential of the same place. The didactic aim of the initiative lies in the fact to be confronted not only with the real needs, but also with a limited choice of materials used and available on site and a real price associated with them in the perspective to control since once the solution’s feasibility, not only constructive but also economic. The main objective is to trigger the exchange processes and application testing between students of different disciplines in order to set up the initial core of a community who share the same professional interests and research that will maintain a network between teachers and students with a view to start a further exchange of experiences and practical opportunities for collaboration among the participating students and promoters. In particular, this project is part of a broader topic of scientific research by the Department as a topic for PhD course, International Summer School and degree’s thesis carried out in collaboration with other national and international organizations, in the conviction that this issue can be considered as a real opportunity for scientific research and investigation methodology, because of the large margins of interest, experimentation and innovation in terms of choice of architectural and technical control of the project. In particular, in recent years, the University of Pavia and the DIET have also signed Declaration of Intents not only with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but also with the Commission of Social Solidarity and Cooperation at the Order of Engineers of Pavia, “Vento di Terra” Ong.