Super Adobe - Emergency Shelters

Emergency Shelters

According to Khalili's website, in an emergency, impermanent shelters can be built using only dirt with no cement or lime, and for the sake of speed of construction windows can be punched out later due to the strength of the compressive nature of the dome/beehive. Ordinary sand bags can also be used to form the dome if no Superadobe tubes can be procured; this in fact was how the original design was developed. There is a great potential for long-term emergency shelters with Superadobe because of the simplicity of construction. Labor can be unskilled and high physical strength or formal training is unnecessary for the workers, so women and children are able to substantially contribute to the construction process. Local resources can be used with ease. Superadobe is not an exact art and similar materials may be substituted if the most ideal ones are not readily available.

In an interview with an AIA (American Institute of Architects) representative, Nader Khalili, super adobe’s founder and figurehead, said this about the emergency shelter aspects of Superadobe:

A 400-square-foot (37 m2) house, with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and entry — I call it the Eco-Dome — can be put up in about four weeks, by one skilled and four unskilled people. Emergency shelters can go up much more quickly. After the Gulf War, the United Nations sent an architect here. We trained him, and he went to the Persian Gulf and put them up with refugees as they arrived at the camps. Every five incoming refugees put up a simple structure in five days. It's emergency shelter, but if you cover it with waterproofing and stucco, it will last for 30 or more years.