The Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN) estimates that 30,000 citizens are homeless every night and at least 200,000 experience homelessness in any given year.
Architectural Capsule
IK Studio developed for a non-profit organization in Toronto the Architectural Prototype Capsule, low-cost emergency shelter prototypes made out of flat plywood sheets
View Article details
- 15 November 2014
- Toronto
The client brief also called for a design that elevated the form of an emergency shelter beyond social stigma or a public blight – one that could double for play when constructed in parks and playgrounds.
The resulting Architectural Prototype Capsule, or APoC, is a temporary pavilion. Flat plywood sheets are cut into profiles that allow for flexible bending. When these curved panels are assembled, a rigid, double-layer shell is produced. This shell is not only self-supporting but lightweight and quickly deployed by two people.
The geometry of the APoC is generated from a truncated sphere and divided into doublecurvature panels that are sized for easy transport. Tessellation was avoided as stiffness would not be achieved without a secondary structural frame to support the planar panels. Each plate of the APoC is engineered laminated birchwood that is then curved into a stable, strong shell. The shell of the outer layer overlaps with the panels of the inner layer so that the shelter is a self-supporting monocoque.
Architectural Prototype Capsule
Design: IK Studio
Client: Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN)