Full performance paper house

Abstract

According to the UNHCR, in 2019 there were 70.8 million refugees worldwide. Due to war, catastrophes,and emergency situations a great demand for temporary accommodation has arisen within the lastcouple of years. The main requirements for these shelters are protection for the inhabitants, easytransportability, and quick construction. In addition, in terms of resource efficiency, the recyclability ofthe construction materials is of great importance. Paper materials have a high potential for this, due totheir strong structure, cost-effective production, and optimised recycling processes.The following paper presents a case study of a prototype for a temporary paper house that meetsthe static and technical requirements for a comfortable and hygienic living space by combiningdifferent paper materials.The overall objective of this research was the constructive development of building elements made ofpaper materials, which meet the requirements for temporary residential use over a period of at least 3years. The main advantages of using paper materials for this purpose are easy processing, cost-effectiveproduction, and a high probability for its sustainable disposal after usage. The main challenges of thematerial are fire protection and moisture protection, which affect the recyclability, as well as the gluingand joining techniques. An overview of possible solutions for these disadvantages and their applicabilitywill be demonstrated and discussed.The paper aims to emphasise that simplicity and performance do not need to be diametrically opposed.The envelope, which provides all the functions required of a modern building through its multi-layeredstructure, represents the performance of this project. Transportation, construction, and joining, onthe other hand, were kept as simple as possible in order to make assembly possible even by unskilledworkers and under very basic conditions.The paper is divided into four sections. First, the technical and regulatory requirements for temporaryemergency shelters, as well as the decisive characteristics of paper materials are described andanalysed. In the second part, the architectural design and the construction typology are defined. The thirdpart focusses on the elaboration and evaluation of building elements with regard to joining technologies,statics, building physics, and production technologies. Finally, the results of the prototype and theirtransferability are presented and discussed.