D - I - Do
Vicky Yi Yun Luo, Maria Gutierrez Matos, Yuwei Chen
Professors: Richard Sarrach, Ajmal Aqtash
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The Russo-Ukraine War lead to the displacement of many Ukrainians across Europe. A significant portion of these refugees are school-aged children, this project explores a rapid deployment housing solution that facilitate the learning needs and development of these displaced youths. This is a prototype proposal for the city of Bucha, just west of Kiev, to house these displaced people and unpacking the potential to scale housing within shipping containers that allows us to rethink emergency housing.
Design Concept
D-I-DO is an interactive community designed to foster the development of children through engaging play and learning spaces. Evidence suggests that 25% of refugee children suffer from loneliness and 24% report feeling depressed. Additionally, there are reports of high rates of probable PTSD (30.4%), generalized anxiety (26.8%), somatization (21.4%) and traumatic grief (21.4%). These symptoms are usually accompanied by academic problems (53.6%), behavioral difficulties (44.6%), and attachment problems (38.89%) . Most of this stems from the stripping back of autonomy and a unstable environment for these children, compounded by the innate hardships that lead to being a refugee.
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D-I-DO emphasizes autonomy. When families move into these spaces, children and their guardians can interact not only through play but also by actively manipulating and shaping the space to meet their needs. This hands-on engagement encourages creativity, collaboration, and a sense of ownership, providing a supportive foundation for growth and learning. ​​​
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The flexibility of the netting allows for the customization of interactions residents want to have with their space on a day-to-day or season-to-season basis. To achieve this, we added movable partitions throughout the kitchen and lounge, along with the movable polycarbonate roof that allows for a fold-out shed.
Netting allows the space to be malleable to do four things: climbing, storing, shading, and sitting. The placement of rings for the attachment of netting before deployment allows residents to choose different arrangements for hooking the netting, giving them various ways of utilizing and interacting with the site. The light and malleable material ensures it can adapt to conditions and be used throughout the year.
Deployment Concept
This project was expected to be a usable prototype, we also worked on a plan for deployment. Our strategy for deployment is integrated with our strong belief that the inhabitants of the project should have a high degree of autonomy over their spaces both in construction and maintenance, to restore a bit of their sense of normality.
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These prototypes are designed to plug into schools, and can be additional school room units when the children either grow up or move back to Ukraine. This also provides healthy routines in the life of the recently displaced children, as well as a pre-existing community of peers, to alleviate some of the problems that may arise from the isolation and trauma of leaving a homeland.​​​
A key aspect of rapid deployment is ensuring that most components are standardized and packed off-site, leaving only final touches—such as furniture installation and outdoor landscaping—to be completed on-site. The entire process, from manufacturing to assembly, is designed to take no more than 10-14 days. As part of this project, we researched pre-existing shipping container home manufacturers, focusing on their pricing and timelines. This included evaluating the process of sourcing materials in the United States, shipping them to the Netherlands for assembly, and completing the final transport and setup at the project location.
The final set up touches are light and easily movable with the help of a group of children, or an adult working together with a child. The necessity of having a group to change the final configuration of spaces strikes the balance between the emphasis of community, but also control and autonomy.
More than just giving the children and their guardians the freedom to customize their space, the project also allows them to customize their furniture. The furniture are made from pre-cut compostable cardboard sheets and are light enough to be assembled by a single adult. The residents are expected to assemble their own furniture, which would be shipped with the empty storage container.
