Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Portable Prefab Igloo: Modular Extreme-Weather Shelters

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 10:00 AM PST

Designed with truly exotic destinations in mind, these all-purpose shelter for researchers, explorers or eco-tourists made to withstand the worst weather the world can throw at them.

“The Igloo Satellite Cabin is designed to provide safe, reliable accommodation in remote areas. It has been used … in conditions ranging from the tropics to polar icecaps. Units can be flown by helicopter fully assembled, and often fully equipped, to locations inaccessible by road transport.”

Various extensions, additions and modifications have been built to purpose by Ice Wall (oddly, an Australian company!) for particular challenges as well. These include a smaller variant – the PolyPod Snowcamper – which can be pulled behind an ATV or perhaps even a dogsled.

“Each wall and floor panel is a composite of fibreglass and polyurethane insulation …. Windows are double-glazed polycarbonate panes, which are shockproof. Floor panels have a non-skid surface, and are bolted to wall panels and to each other. Each cabin has two ventilators, one in each door and top cover.”

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Picturesque Prefab Defies Modular Mass-Produced Dwellings

Lumberjack Bookcase: Rough & Simple Gravity-Held Shelves

Posted: 21 Jan 2013 04:00 PM PST

Like a cut through a log with an axe, Damien Gernay imagines this system as being blunt, direct and functionally effective.

As in an axe swing, gravity does most of the heavy lifting here, so to speak – the weight of the wood boards at each level help to stabilize the overall structure. At a glance it could look unstable, but our intuitions quickly apprehend how the loads move down through the supports.

Even better, there are essentially no connectors needed outside of each level’s framing element, meaning you could slot in finely-sliced and fully-finished boards, or rough-hewn lumber right off the chopping block (and also making manufacture a simple and repetitive process).

Materials: oak, thermo-coated steel. Dimensions : 160 x 35 x 130 cm. While custom-made for a client (ENO studio), the system provides great do-it-yourself inspiration for those inclined to experiment with the details.