Through a study of the tradition of rebuilding after natural disaster, the Fill_Frame house seeks to challenge the typologies of temporary, transitional, and permanent housing. By merging the three into one seamless process of reconstruction, a community can adapt from natural disasters to a permanent village in a faster, more efficient manner. The title Fill_Frame developed from the idea that the majority of the design would be based on creating a structural frame which would be assembled using a variety of prefabricated components. The majority of the needed materials, however, would be natural materials that could be found locally and used as infill to be inserted into the basic prefabricated frame, thus forming completed units. In the case of a need for immediate temporary housing, the structural frame system makes it possible to assemble the units quickly with prefabricated pieces. In this state, the units can be used as temporary shelters draped with nylon emergency housing material. The families would then be able to construct the infill wall panels and apply earth plaster at their leisure to transform their temporary house into a permanent home. This process allows the families to have better living conditions throughout the whole process of reconstruction and also saves valuable materials which would be wasted when moving from temporary to transitional to permanent structures.
(a) The foundation system is composed of nestable plastic shipping pallets which would be acquired through the waste line of manufacturing or construction companies. As the foundation system of the structure, three rows of pallets are stacked and interconnected to create a continuous ring foundation which the structural poles can be easily fitted into.
(b,c) These triangular truss members are prefabricated pieces made through a recycled injection plastic process. The trusses serve a double purpose in the construction of the structure. First acting as temporary stabilizers for the vertical poles during construction of the frame, and then serving permanently to connect the double roof.
(d) Also fabricated using an injection plastic process, these binder pieces serve as the basis for the wall system. Wall panels are composed of local thatch, sugar cane, or reeds which are then inserted into these plastic binders then attached as units to the structural frame. Various sizes and types of binder clips allow for operable windows and doors to be fabricated using the same system.
Studio Web Page: http://www.studiorecover.virginia.edu/recover.html
