How ZO_loft Brings New Thinking to Portable Shelter Design

ZO-loft, a four-person architecture and design studio base in Italy, has designed a portable shelter concept that has many surprising and innovative aspects contained within.  Called the ZO_loft WheelLY, the shelter consists of (please refer to schematic image above) 1. a cloth bag, 2. reflecting colored rubber rim, 3. folding polyester resin tent, 4. rubber tire, 5. aluminum frame, 6. pressed paper rollers to serve as bearings, and 7. an insulating rubber disc with a sponsor’s logo on the surface (smart way of potentially reducing costs).  When opened, the shelter is ready to be inhabited for hopefully short durations, or may be used to “wheel” one’s possessions around, as it is capable of storing upwards of 250 liters of items.

(Images courtesy of ZO_loft via Treehugger.com)

Given the amount of need which exists in the world for low cost, sturdy, and quick-construction shelter, the ZO_loft WheelLY represents a strikingly innovative step forward which may indeed be applicable in the future - it still needs some issues worked out however, such as how comfortable it would be to sleep while lying over the inner edge of the tire when more space is required.  Nonetheless, this concept is another indication of how important it is for industrial designers and architects to contribute to solving the big issues which lay before us - climate change, disaster relief, widening humanitarian crises, etc.  And it is worth noting that these concepts represent a far cry from the toxic trailers provided by FEMA, for victims in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, although it appears that that problem may be getting some attention albeit years after the fact.  Perhaps the Federal Government (and FEMA leaders in particular) should take a closer look at what ZO-loft has come up with, along with the many other promising concepts for portable shelter that are being developed around the world (e.g. Daniel Schipper’s collapsible shelter concept).

ZO_loft

OLPC’s Second Act Coming in 2009

Picture this: an elegant portable electronic device with dual touchscreens that can be transformed into virtual keyboards, a hinge to allow it to be used horizontally or vertically (like an electronic book), that is extremely energy efficient (running on just one Watt!).  Sounds cool, right?  Well, you’re looking at it.  It’s the XO-2, representing the next generation of Cambridge, MA-based One Laptop Per Child’s (OLPC) XO laptop for children in the developing world, with a proposed launch date of 2010.  Why did the organization decide to announce it so early?  According to founder Nicholas Negroponte, formerly of MIT’s Media Lab, it was to essentially stimulate the market, in the hope that it might actually be copied by other companies, so as to bring costs down, as well as widen the effort in general, to introduce the latest technologies to educational programs in developing countries throughout the world .

Following the introduction begun last year, of the XO into countries including Peru, Uruguay, Mongolia, Haiti, Rwanda, Mexico, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even the US and Canada, OLPC determined that it had to redesign the device and lower its price (to $75, if possible), in order to make it even more accessible for young children.  If the proposed enhancements indeed come to fruition, the XO-2 will certainly have a lot going for it, with the added benefit that it may aid the design and development of super efficient electronics for the developed world as well, especially in light of our ever strained electrical grid.  While you wait for this impressive device to hit the market, OLPC will reintroduce their laptop donation program later this Fall, in case you are interested in supporting their efforts.

For further information, please visit OLPC Wiki for updates and information on how the project is proceeding.