August 28, 2006
This Is Only a Drill: In California, Testing Technology in a Disaster Response
By JOHN MARKOFF
(this article included an image of the hexayurt, and a printable version is linked below)
...Also on display was a novel low-cost refugee shelter designed by Vinay Gupta, a software engineer in Chicago. Called Hexayurts, the buildings are fabricated from four-by-eight sheets of foam or hexacomb cardboard and duct tape and can be built for about $1,000 apiece. Mr. Gupta set up several of the buildings in a plaza and showed how they could be equipped with a high-efficiency wood stove for cooking, a composting toilet and a small fluorescent light.
Although there has been no mass production of the buildings, which are large enough to shelter a family, Mr. Gupta has put design instructions on the Internet and placed them in the public domain. He thinks they are sure to find users.
“A FEMA trailer costs $30,000,” he said. “I’m waiting for the next hurricane season.”
