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sale vs. resale 100 million people worldwide are homeless. Instead of instantly losing an entire home, the cube provides a softer threshold.
Despite national decline of retail in 2009, online purchases rose 11% to $205 billion. b o . O Online e custo customization at o aand d ccheaper eape p prices ces will d drive e tthe e cubes sa sales.
steel from concentrate The largest contributers to a products cost are labor and shipping A condensed shipping state lowers the cost. shipping. cost
smaller world The cost of shipping one unit from L.A. to N.Y. would be $570, roughly the cost of one months rent. After paying rent for 4 months, a tenant will have spent the same amount of money as it costs to buy and ship an unfurnished cube across the county to live in permanently. The cube would arrive 4 days later.
cube b a
cube b b
2010
20 012
2014 per person 2016vs. time # of cubes
20 018
2020
pan # of cubes the h average wallll street b broker k owns over a ten year span
economic crisis
urban natural
pivot point a prefabricated solution to urban and natural problems
Urban growth can become harmful when a cities infastructure is not equipped to handle its population density. It is projected that by the year 2050, 85% of the world’s population will be living in urban spaces. This project proposes prefabrication of five steel components which can form a cube shelter. These prefabricated cubes will be small enough to fit into a city’s smallest residual spaces and stack in varying methods. They will be manufactured in a manner vastly more efficient than traditional housing, allowing a significantly larger portion of the city to afford housing, office, or retail space. The new condensed living spaces will allow a city’s population to rise without compromising area for public space. The infinitely large combinations of pieces will allow complete customization, and spark mass resale and reuse of each piece.
Natural disasters can cripple a city’s infastructure and expel its population. The crucial recover point occurs in the days and months after a natural disaster has occured. The effects last for years and decades. The traditional solution has been a short flash a instananeous relief to victims. This saves lives but leaves cities ruined. As soon as disposable tents blow away, funding for shipped in food and medical relief dries up, and the next disaster strikes somewhere else, the city is left on its own with no infastructure to support its inhabitants. This project proposes an instantaneous relief package that sustains itself over time and grows into the reborn cities infastructure.
crippling infastructure 43 3% of all businesses that close do to natural disaster never re eopen. p ” air-dropped relief: The total cube weighs 600lbs. It will be dropped in three seperate packages sequentially.
dissapearing cities New Orleans is currently at 40% of its pre-Katrina population. Th he U.S. government purchased $35,000 FEMA trailers to te emporarily house Katrina victims. 5 years later, the victims pu urchased these trailers for as little as $10, never to return to New Orleans.
housing a nation: As of the end of February, 2010, The American Red Cross had d raised $284 million to aid Haiti. With 1.2 millio on homeless and the average family having g seven members, the Red Cross would need to provide170,000 shelters. At the estimated cosst of $1,500 per cube, the Red Cross could p permanently house all of Haiti for $250 million.
assembly:
hands only
labor is 90% of the cost of steel construction . a prefabricated structure that can easily be set up by the user within an hour will be 90% cheaper
interior wall
floor
post
roof
exterior wall
plug in
slide in
connections
walls to utilities
1
4
5
6
2
3
pre construction: instant relief centers The air-dropped pieces have both pre and post construction uses. They will be packed with instaneous relief goods such as first aid kits, food and water, and the parachutes will be insulated for cold climates.
Long term relief goods, such as seeds, will also be packed in. The cube itself will use all surfaces to provide for the inhabitant once the intial relief runs out.
post construction: producer to consumer
single day: inhabitation cycle resting state: bedroom
conversion: bathroom
end state: entertainment space
adaptable structure: The interior walls redirect all load from the floor and program into the posts. This saves space, allowing users to inhabit the structure and
every interior structure to be custom fitted to its program. Because all load is distributed to the posts, the structure acts in predictable ways when stacked. Building codes can be established based on the posts properties.
planting seeds: long term relief
customizing: disposable income
one year:
cube growth
plugging in: utilizing city’s water and electric
existing existing
existing
price years
g
of cube = $1500
to pay off house loan and corresponding interest
economic infusion: The cube can become both the economic good or producer of goods. In the urban sitaution above, the cubes are being stacked one atop another, as they are constantly being traded, bought and sold on the digital market. In the underdevloped situation below, the cubes are produced the goods to be sold on the tangible market.
30 15 1-5
5.07 4.39 4.03
monthly rate for 64 sq. ft.
New York $240 San Fransico $160 L.A. $144 Chicago $112
days until total rent = $1500 New York San Fransico L.A. Chicago
existing existing
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