1 + 3 + 9 = Position Paper v.1.1

The failure of conventional buildings to maintain survivable conditions as a result of natural disaster can be considered a failure of design.

Buildings are vulnerable to natural disaster- how then do we survive temporarily the widespread power outages and damage to buildings.The existing building stock must be reexamined to serve as multipurpose spaces that can serve as emergency shelters in urban environments. In particular, existing arenas, prevalent in every major city, are the most ideal building type to be examined and redesigned to provide more survivable living conditions in the event of extended power outages, loss of fuel supply, or limited water supply.

With the widespread amount of natural disasters that have afflicted major cities from New Orleans to Haiti, it is no longer a matter of where a disaster may occur, but when an area will be susceptible. It is now even more necessary for cities to have more effective responses to temporarily re-shelter displaced citizens. Schools, government buildings, houses, and apartments have all served as temporary emergency shelters, but arenas are now becoming popular choices as shelters. Far from it original programmatic intent, arenas that serve as emergency shelters are currently poorly suited to serve as venues for shelter for extended periods of time. In 2005 high temperatures and deteriorating roof conditions in New Orleans’ Superdome, the city’s emergency shelter for 30,000 people, put evacuees at risk. Transformation of arenas in major city centers to serve as emergency shelters creates not only “temporary” architecture but also “temporary” urban centers. Arenas as emergency shelters become microcosms of a displaced city, with the same social, cultural, and political implications that a city experiences, but at an exaggerated emotional level. With such potential for entanglement of issues, It is even more necessary for government officials to plan for the worst, well in advance and develop effective plans for the transformation of arenas to serve as emergency shelter. Arenas that are transformed into effective shelters that provide conditions to survive not only the physical destruction of disasters, but also the social and emotional destruction will have the potential of improving the long term transition of surviving a disaster.