a platform you can live with

In the last year or so, we've run some stories about unusual uses for transportation and distribution equipment: a basketball-tossing palletizer, homes made from shipping containers, and avant-garde furniture constructed from pallets, to name a few. Well, here's another one, passed on by our resident pallet aficionado:

An article on the Web site GreenUpgrader.com explains how shipping pallets can be used to construct temporary housing in disaster areas. The concept originally was developed by architects I-Beam Design to house refugees in Kosovo. A transitional shelter measuring 10 by 20 feet would require about 80 pallets to build and cost some $500 all told. The design is especially cost-effective in disaster areas because construction teams can use pallets that arrive with relief supplies, say the architects. When no longer needed, the houses can be disassembled and recycled. They can also be modified to provide permanent housing.

I-Beam Design conducted a workshop at Ball State University in Indiana, where students and professors designed and built six houses in four days, GreenUpgrader reports. You can read more and see photos at http://greenupgrader.com/2387/recycled-pallet-housedisaster-relief-housing.