Temporary Housing Design and Planning Software for Disaster Relief Decision Support System

Abstract

There is a continuous and urgent need for disaster relief in Thailand and countries suffering from floods and tsunami impact. Based on this issue, design and planning software for temporary housing project has been developed, as well as the process and guideline for implementation. This paper describes a unique coupling of interactive 3D virtual environment with parametric designing in order to manage disaster relief project more efficiently. Architects and planners can use the functionality of software on both design simulation and project evaluation aspects. We need to provide correct information to help people making decision when they are in disaster. So the disaster relief decision support system must offer proper information of crisis management focused on people, place, and process. One of the main features of software is the relationship modeling of essential factors such as number of people, houses, budget, time, and space. This automatic temporary houses generation and space planning is simulated for land use and layout plan design with cost estimation analysis. The system components were proposed to a new disaster relief system in alternative approach. Using community-based development will not cost budget but required people participation. Our software’s space coordination will start and centered from available space in school or temple with sufficient infrastructure. After essential factors are inputted, appropriated number of temporary houses, public facilities, and management guideline will be generated to support further planning decision. Our core system was developed on Java and Swing Technology, empowered by real-time 3D rendering CAD engine. In addition, “Virtools” as our Authoring Tools was applied to improve design interaction and explore rapid software prototyping. At the end, we discuss the comparison between real situations in Thailand and appropriate design standardization, which should be reconsidered how to manage crisis with the limitation of time and budget from government.