Humanitarian shelter is a habitable dwelling that provides a safe, healthy and dignified living environment for people affected by disaster and conflict. Our work, focused on sheltering in all phases of emergency and recovery response, is guided by the shelter approaches explored by sector academics and practitioners in various published case studies. As a form of humanitarian shelter, we adopt an approach which builds on the ‘transitional tent’ and ‘transitional shelter’ concepts introduced by Shelter Centre.
The transitional approach anticipates relocation and can provide immediate and continuous support as reconstruction efforts continue. The incremental process of our approach aims to better understand the needs of transitional tents and shelter by adding the reuse of materials for long-term housing, opening the prospect for reparability and promoting a positive impact on the environment.