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

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.

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.