In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, OEM sponsored an open design competition to generate temporary housing solutions for the thousands of New Yorkers who might be displaced in the event of a catastrophe. Entrants from over 30 countries answered the call from Commissioner Bruno for innovative proposals that outperform traditional post-disaster housing solutions, such as mobile homes, that fail to address the unique needs of urban environments.
In January of 2008, ten winners were chosen by a jury of experts and awarded $10,000 to develop their designs as the foundation of a menu of options to be included in OEM’s Disaster Housing Recovery Plan.
Read more about the competition.
After the competition, OEM partnered with New York City’s Department of Design and Construction to develop a set of housing specifications that would engage a new manufacturing paradigm to provide living spaces - at an unprecedented speed and scale - and at a density level significantly higher than what is now conventionally provided in temporary structures.
Simultaneously OEM patterned with the New York City Department of City Planning to develop an Urban Planning Playbook to deal with services needed to plan and support temporary urban settlements
I worked on all of the above, and am happy to say that the work continues via the Urban Post-Disaster Housing Prototype Program. A prototype is expected to be under construction in Brooklyn this year.