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Ikea's flat-pack refugee shelter is entering production
- ape4 12y agoThey should throw in some Billys or Ivars for the refugee's stuff.
- ptaipale 12y agoAren't the refugees suffering enough already?
- camhenlin 12y agoSo when can we buy these at the local ikea?
- ics 12y agoIt would be really great if they sold these such that one purchase could cover the cost of one for charity. It would be even better if there was enough demand to drive the production cost down further.
- keithpeter 12y agoYup - I was thinking just that. I could use one of these in the yard as a writing/craft space and would be happy to pay enough for one to be donated to UNHCR.
- justin66 12y ago> It would be really great if they sold these such that one purchase could cover the cost of one for charity. No, absolutely not. This is the same mistake the one laptop per child people made. Just sell the shit out of them to everyone who can use one. Economies of scale will bring the price down. The "buy two, get one!" approach deters people from buying them and shoots economies of scale in the head.
- ics 12y agoDepending on how much they cost as well as how much IKEA wants to profit from their sale, it could be well within their reach to charge (for example) Americans what one would expect for an IKEA garden shed, writer's shed, whatever you want to call it. If you search prefab outdoor sheds on Sears, you'll see that prices vary from around $300 to $2000 depending on size and materials and taking sale prices into account. One advantage IKEA has is that they thrive on people buying in to their systems, even when it's not necessarily cheaper than the alternative. That can be attributed to better design, integration/continuity (i.e. "everything just goes well together"), or just shopper's fatigue after a day of wandering through an IKEA store. How much would you be willing to pay for it? That's the only question IKEA needs an answer. If the can sell it for cost x 2 without an average IKEA shopper batting an eye then they're golden. Whether they want to try squeezing a profit in there is up to them but by no means necessary. They get publicity and a new product line. To address what you've said about OLPC, I don't think it's a good comparison at all. Problems with the OLPC in this case: huge restructuring due to the economy, never intended for consumers, and in an already massive product field (PCs > Laptops > Netbooks). Still, the Give 1 Get 1 campaign netted 83,500 sales. That's pretty good, considering the cost was $400 in the same year that the MacBook Air became available for $1800 (which people thought was pretty high then). How many of those people expected to actually use their OLPC? How many people do you think would buy an IKEA shed just for it to sit around and make them feel charitable or something?
- neindanke 12y ago> No, absolutely not. This is the same mistake the one laptop per child people made. No absolutely not. The mistake the OLPC people made was trying to make people believe that throwing underpowered overdesigned overpriced laptops at kids would solve any problem other than providing employment to Nicky Negroponte and his gang.
- nashashmi 12y agoLOL. These are made for refugees. If you want them too, you are going to have to make it from scratch. They are open source, so that should not be a problem
- halleym 12y agoWhy is that funny?
- nodejsisbest 12y agoIt is their way of dealing with the stress of this world.
- thisandthat 12y agoYou said open source, I can't seem to find it on google, do you have any reference to the detailed diagram and specs, all the material needed to build one?
- euroclydon 12y agoIf my wife and I had lived in one of those for our first two years of marriage, we could have saved up one heck of a down payment for our first house.
- drcode 12y agoI'm guessing, like most people who have more resources than refugees, you and your wife would prefer living somewhere with a bathroom, indoor plumbing, and a refrigerator.
- mahyarm 12y agoYour house down payment is usually mostly the value of the land underneath the structure, not the structure itself.
- YokoZar 12y agoThis depends very much where you live. In some places with very expensive property markets the structure can be as low as 20% of the cost of a home (a typical downpayment amount) -- conversely, with low property/land values, the quality of the building itself can be most of the value. A side effect of high land values is that the relative cost of teardowns/rebuilds is much lower, so you tend to see more replacement of the buildings themselves unless there are other regulations in place blocking that.
- Someone1234 12y agoLikely but the real problem with doing so is actually land. Even if you own some many cities take issue with non-permanent domiciles that are lived in for long periods (not least of all because you escape housing tax, and aren't up to "code"). However several people have done what you're suggesting by: - Living on a boat (either out at sea, moored just off-shore, or at a marina). This can range from being cheaper, to being much more expensive. - Campervan, or enclosed truck. They often park semi-legally overnight and move every few days to escape harassment. Bathrooms are problematic (gym? work?). - Camping (i.e. just tent and woods). This often escapes harassment (since you aren't in a city) but you are limited by water, and often travelling to/from the site is time consuming if you wish to work. - Living at work (if possible). Likely legal but can get you fired thus homeless. - Living a hotel. Some people have claimed that they can live in a hotel for less than the cost of a mortgage + utilities + taxes + other expenses. Ditto with some cruises. YMMV. - Living in a foreign country. If you work remotely living abroad or in the middle of nowhere can cost a LOT less than living in a big expensive city. PS - In general being homeless is "illegal" in most US cities. You'd get harassed, maybe even arrested, just for being without a fixed address. Most cities will try to run you out of town (literally and figuratively).
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- mc32 12y agoThese remind me of an architecture project to produce semi livable spaces for Tokyo homeless. The blue tarpaulin structures. I think there was a German movie cherry something or other in which a terminally ill man who travels to Japan to gets to know a girl who lives in one such structure in one of the parks there. This is bigger and perhaps more durable. But too big for a homeless person to move to a new spot, if necessary, in a hurry. If they could marry the modularity of this with the size and portability of the blue tarp structures, this could be an option to homeless communities who prefer not to go to official shelters. In other words, I wonder if they could take this but build a version for individual homeless people.
- stove 12y agoThese units seem to be priced at $1,000 for anyone else who was curious. Source: http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-09/thousand-dollar-ikea-house-refugees-big-pic http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-09/thousand-do...
- bane 12y ago10,000 of these are contracted to the UNHCR. I've always found it curious; often innovations in the refugee arena would often be very welcome in other venues: camping, cheap structures, etc. These things are always priced really cheap, but we never see them really entering into the commercial market -- or when they do, they're always going for some kind of 2x the price scheme. For example, these 188 sqft shelters would be great as a sheds, or workshops in affluent areas. Heck, I'd like to buy one for my parents to use as a storage shed on their property. Equivalent sized sheds (without solar power, or good design) run >$2000. I see this all the time, nifty water purifiers, portable lights, radios, etc. There's some really interesting stuff being produced for refugees. Instead of crazy 2:1 schemes or whatever, why not just sell these on a 20% markup and donate the profit to buying more shelters? Or just sell them and push the price down due to the greater economies of scale? The refugee space always seems so weird to me.
- afarrell 12y agoLuminAID does this with their LED lights: http://luminaid.com/ http://luminaid.com/
- bobdvb 12y agoGravity Light sell their products, I bought one for my in-laws: http://gravitylight.org/ http://gravitylight.org/
- chmullig 12y agoHave you considered that maybe actually selling them to end users is > double the cost? Massive amounts of risk, supply chain, logistics, all eliminated when selling to the UN like this.
- maerF0x0 12y agoThey should do a tom's shoes thing with this. We both could have a house.
- danudey 12y agoSure, but then you have to find some place to put it. The house I'm living in is worth $25k, but the land it's on is worth $1.6m last I checked. It's not always about a place to put your things, it's about where to put the place to put your things.
- Sanddancer 12y agoDepends. There's a lot of cheap land in the western US once you get away from the city where $5k-$10k will get you a place you can plop a few of these things down when you wanna get away from things. You'll have to bring your utilities with you, but water tanks, solar panels, etc aren't horribly expensive these days.
- bryanlarsen 12y agoThere are towns in rural Saskatchewan Canada that will sell you a serviced lot for $1 if you agree to build a house on the lot and live in it for three years.
- tonyarkles 12y agoAnd some are even offering tax credits to move there. Pardon the ugly link, it seems the main town website is currently down. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GyiysDwTCdgJ:allan.ca/moving/population-growth/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GyiysDw... As a curiosity, are you from around here? I'm in Saskatoon right now, but we've got some land down in the Last Mountain Lake area that we might develop with a small "away from the city" home. (In fact, my girlfriend purchased it... 3 lots and an old unplumbed church for $1).
- adamesque 12y ago
- Shivetya 12y agoI haven't found their weight, but their lifespan in only estimated to be three years, does anyone know if they are easily recyclable, do they burn, if so are any gases toxic? Can they be combined to form interlinked structures?
- bby 12y agoI don't think it will magically disintegrate in three years unless the weather around there is bad. I wager that 3 years is the very minimum. Out in normal terrain I'd wager these things could last a could 10-15 years with some patching of holes and fixing the normal wear and tear.
- elif 12y agoI'm guessing that the end-of-life path for 95% of these are shantytowns.. where they will continue to be among the safest structures. so in that regard, they are completely recyclable.
- bobdvb 12y agoThey are polymer but it doesn't say which polymer, if they are PLA then they are biodegradable and safe to burn but I think that making them from PLA might not make them so robust? They are probably made from some petrolium-based plastic, so they probably aren't very burnable and thinking on it you don't want them flammable. Looking at the structure it looks like it wouldn't take much to link them together and I think the materials look easy to reuse.
- draugadrotten 12y agoThis could also be used to provide housing to Sweden's rapidly increasing population of homeless beggars http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6044464 http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&art...
- kalleboo 12y agoOr they can put the manufacturing in Romania so the beggars never have to leave home and amass debts they'll never be able to pay off as career beggars.
- ptaipale 12y agoThe problem of housing in Stockholm isn't about how expensive it is to build; it is about zoning (and rent control on top of that). Generally, third-world solutions (tents, shantytowns, container homes, or this) are a solution for how to build cheaply. First-world problems are mostly about zoning and permissions to build.
- codeshaman 12y agoThese things are great. But at the same time - so weird. Helpless victims of failed states, social injustice, greed, hatred, etc can now rely on high tech structures to take care of them. Genocide ? No problem, we've got you covered. We've got just the perfect structures for $1000 a pop for you to take shelter in. I mean, it IS the right thing to do, but at the same time, I don't know.. I guess would prefer that somehow there were no refugees and suffering in the first place... It's a strange thing to say, but somehow, by providing these solutions we're making the crimes less grave, more acceptable, a technical matter rather than a moral one...?
- bby 12y agoikea filling their pockets
- Vraxx 12y agoI feel like that is taking that line of logic too far. These aren't being created so that people can look over the suffering and alleviate the seriousness of the crime, they're to reduce the suffering that couldn't be prevented in the first place. These shelters aren't going to be pointed at as reasons why actions resulting in refugees aren't that bad, because that obviously wasn't a large enough factor to stop it from happening in the first place
- maerF0x0 12y agoI also would expect that the purchaser may not be the same as the occupant. ie, gov't agencies can buy them, NGOs can etc.
- protomyth 12y agoYou want ladders and this is another platform to keep people out of the water. They are both needed, the problem is people build platforms and forget to provide a way up or believe that is where the person will stay. This is probably why I get so irritated at the "minimum wage must be a living wage" crowd. Its not the goal or desirable for that to be good enough. I would rather be honest about it and implement some type of assistance with the goal of a career. I keep seeing people who are "getting by" but have no way to advance. It kills the soul. People are going to suffer, its not a perfect world. It hurts to see, especially when you drive past it each day. Planning for the suffering and providing temporary solution are good things. But, housing is broken and people are feeling around. Tiny homes, these things, micro apartments are attempts at short and long term changes. We need more options. This isn't it, but its another idea. Something like this will keep people safe for a while, but it is should not be thought of as an end. You're a good person and care, and skepticism is a good thing, but don't lose faith that small, positive steps are a good thing. I do think this is a small, positive step that doesn't diminish the gravity of the crimes people or bad luck can perpetrate on others. The best solution will be technical and have a moral outcome.
- adamesque 12y agoThere's a startup in Austin, TX aiming to compete in a similar space: http://www.reactionhousing.com http://www.reactionhousing.com Full disclosure: I work there. ;) And if you find this sort of mission compelling: we're hiring software engineers! (firmware, backend) http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#embedded-firmware-engineer http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#embedded-firmware-en... http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#software-engineer http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#software-engineer Our design is quite different (and geared towards a shorter length of stay) but all the same, I'm excited to see these go into production.
- asdfaoeu 12y agoWell that seems exactly like what I'd expect a refugee shelter designed by affluent software engineers to look like.
- adamesque 12y agoHeh, it was actually designed by our CEO, a designer from Mississippi — he's been working on the concept since Katrina, finally got it funded a year ago.
- brenschluss 12y agoSurprised there are no architects on the team - it looks pretty badly designed in terms of energy usage - an impermeable membrane designed to trap heat in. Even a solar attic fan-style ventilation system on the top that pulls hot air out and draws fresh air in from vents on the ground could do great wonders without having to install A/C, etc.
- Zhenya 12y agoThis is cool! Have you guys built any? Can we some real photos? I think all the stuff on your site is renders.
- adamesque 12y ago
- CrazyRabbit 12y agowhy do i want to cry when i see those pictures?
- smegel 12y agoI think a flat-packed boat with the autopilot set for Italy or Australia would be far more popular.
- xanderstrike 12y agoI don't know, the influx of starved and dehydrated corpses to Italy and Australia might beg to differ.
- threeseed 12y agoThey wouldn't make it to Australia. The government would force them to Nauru or Cambodia where they would be locked up in basically a prison until the tried to commit suicide or were beaten/raped by staff. Or until they gave up and decided to go back to where they came from. Australia truly is a lovely, compassionate country.
- rmc 12y agoAnd if you're gay and try to flee persecution and claim asylum in Australia, they send you to Papua New Guinea. Where being gay is a crime.
- swatow 12y agoMost Australians and Italians would object to this. Unfortunately most White Christians are irreparably racist. I would suggest a tolerant liberal nation like Israel as the destination.
- bbcbasic 12y agoThis has to be a joke, right?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- keeran 12y agoMakes me think of the Hexayurt project. http://hexayurt.com/ http://hexayurt.com/
- androck1 12y agoI can hardly put together an IKEA shelving unit in 4 hours...
- abandonliberty 12y agoNice to see the 28 billion dollar charity actually doing some. http://www.fastcodesign.com/3035734/infographic-of-the-day/ikea-is-a-nonprofit-and-yes-thats-every-bit-as-fishy-as-it-sounds http://www.fastcodesign.com/3035734/infographic-of-the-day/i...
- cjensen 12y agoThis cannot be said often enough: "non-profit" is a phrase relating to the tax situation of a corporation. It is not synonymous with "good", "charitable", or even "not greedy." On the flip side, "for-profit" is not necessarily synonymous with "evil" or "non-charitable".
- cdcarter 12y agoIndeed, in this case, the non-profit that holds IKEA is a private foundation and not at all a public charity.
- frogpelt 12y agoI've noticed lately that a good portion of society views legal tax sheltering and legal reduction of tax burden as immoral. The thought seems to be if you are making lots of money you are obligated to freely hand over a good chunk of it to the government. IKEA is very creative in their tax avoidance. Interestingly enough, it may actually be a net gain for the countries where IKEA employs people. Because of their ultra-low tax burden and the fact that the profits mostly have to go back into the business, they are able to pay more employees AND pay their employees more. Those employees in turn pay taxes to support the government.
- chupy 12y agoThis is a good example of IKEA's extreme creativity http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/04/ikea-funds-romania-secret-police-communist-era http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/04/ikea-funds-roma...
- abandonliberty 12y ago
- amelius 12y agoIt would be nice to see a list of requirements these shelters have to adhere to. It would illustrate how difficult the design space is.
- largote 12y agoThese look like the solution to Bay Area housing prices. BRB going to IKEA.
- patmcc 12y agoI'd buy one of these this summer no question - my wife's family lives on a small, mostly uninhabited island, and has some space set aside for a cabin for us. But building much of anything there is crazy expensive, so this would be awesome. Sell these in Canada/America, please!
- ChuckMcM 12y agoThese look pretty functional. A bit sturdier than the typical Army tent and no external guy wires. Given that they have been testing these, how do they hold up in the field to wind? I was recently asked how I would provide shelter for people working on a pipeline in the middle of no where, and this looks like it would fit the bill.
- swatow 12y agoThis is really impressive. The problem is highly constrained. Because a house is a sturdy structure, large amounts of physical material are involved. Furthermore, there are quality/safety requirements. It's great to see Ikea applying their deep expertise in producing sturdy structures that can be shipped cheaply, to this area.
- yurylifshits 12y agoI'd love to see a similar approach to San Francisco homelessness problem. At $1000 per unit, housing costs for all homeless people in SF will be below $100M.
- atwebb 12y agoWouldn't you need flat pack high rises?
- Perdition 12y agoCongratulations you have re-invented slums!
- officemonkey 12y agoGoogle Hooverville
- sukilot 12y agoHomeless people don't have any land on which to put these, and they aren't going to move away from the city they obviously prefer.
- smilekzs 12y agoThe interior reminded me of the magical tents in Harry Potter movies.
- rapidally3 12y agoDo they come with the hex key?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- cbd1984 12y agoHow easy are these things to heat and cool? How well do they keep insects and other pests out?
- Tloewald 12y agohttp://gizmodo.com/the-un-is-ordering-10-000-of-ikeas-brilliant-flatpack-r-1693716589 http://gizmodo.com/the-un-is-ordering-10-000-of-ikeas-brilli... Gizmodo link that worked for me. Looks great. Simple, robust, decent size, solar powered, ventilated, lockable.
- pearjuice 12y agoIt would be interesting to buy these and use them to live in abandoned buildings.
- analog31 12y agoAs I understand it, Buckminster Fuller designed a geodesic dome to be made from wax coated cardboard. The pieces were printed with instructions for assembly with some kind of large stapler. His intention was for these to be used in similar situations such as refugees, disaster relief, etc. He claimed that the structures would survive rainy seasons and winters, but that they were still supposed to be temporary.
- systemtheory 12y agoI think these are engineering-wise fantastic. Though, I do worry that they look a little too non-local. When you take care of someone, sure you start at the base of Maslow's law of hierarchy, but it is important to take cultural, personal, etc. issues into consideration as well. This hold especially true when dealing with prolonged displacement where identity and self-worth can be challenged.
- joenathan 12y agoIt can very easily turn into mockery when you don't understand a culture and then try to emulate it. Think parents trying to act hip, it just doesn't work. Why try to falsely disguise what it is and where it's from?
- mlmonkey 12y agoI disagree. The condescension that western people show to the rest of the world is very grating, as a non-westerner. People don't care about "culture" when it comes to basic needs and survival. A roof, any roof, over my head is worth infinitely more than no roof when it's raining outside or -10 degrees.
- wjan 12y agoWhat about sustainability, ecology, ease to dispose the materials? Isn't that gonna trash the land?