Proposing a Flexible Model for Temporary Housing using Digital Design Techniques

Temporary accommodation is a necessary measure for various purposes that can be used by the homeless after events such as floods, earthquakes, and wars. Depending on the location of the disaster, temporary shelter users may have different groups of people with different attitudes and social, cultural, and climatic conditions. The incompatibility of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of temporary housing with the conditions leads to the dissatisfaction of the users and increases the psychological consequences of the disaster for them. Hence, the concept of flexibility in such situations is proposed to solve current problems and increase the responsiveness and desirability of temporary housing. The main question of the article is how to design flexible temporary housing with the help of digital tools. This paper seeks to provide a flexible physical model for improving the quality of temporary accommodation and responding to the different needs of different residents through digital tools. To achieve the goal and solve major problems in the design of temporary housing, digital design techniques can be very useful because the subject of the design has many limitations and expectations. This is a practical study and a review of the literature and its theoretical foundations have been prepared through library documents and research. According to the studies and components obtained from the literature review, a parametric and modular design approach to achieve a flexible physical model through a user-friendly method is proposed. From both design and evaluation perspectives, the Space Syntax Toolkit is used to obtain diagrams and basic information for designing responsive designs in terms of social and cultural components, and the Galapagos and Grasshopper plugins in the Rhinoceros environment for optimization. The minimum and standard dimensions of the Ladybug and Bee plugin are also used in the Grasshopper environment for climatic evaluation of the proposed physical models in the four cities of Tabriz, Tehran, Yazd, and Bandar Abbas. The results of this article indicate that the rectangular modules with an area of 6 square meters have the maximum ability to provide different patterns for the temporary housing plan according to the needs and tastes of users. Expandable modules are also an effective solution for the optimal use of the minimum dimensions in the plan, which can meet the climate needs according to the climate data of the four cities.