Deco mag Spring '17 issue

architecture award
Deco mag 30
Better Shelter
Flat-packed refugee shelter
wins award for best design
Better Shelter has won
the architecture prize in the
Beazley Design Of The Year
awards, now in their ninth year.
Designed by Johan
Karlsson, Dennis
Kanter, Nicolò Barlera
Christian Gustafsson,
John van Leer, Tim de
Haas, the IKEA Foundation
and UNHCR, these shelters
provide more dignified homes
for people who’ve been
displaced by war or natural
disasters; presently more
than 30,000 Better Shelters
are in use around the world,
including in refugee camps in
the Middle East.
Better Shelter is a social
enterprise bringing design
industry innovation to
emergency and temporary
shelter in a time of ever
growing need.
Featuring a lockable front
door and a solar-powered
wall, this award-winning
shelter took the flat-pack
technology found in furniture
design and used it to create
a home that can be easily
assembled and transported.
It’s delivered in a two-box kit
along with all the required
tools, and would take two-four
people around four hours to
assemble it.
The photovoltaic panel
provides enough energy to
power the supplied light or to
charge a mobile phone.
The judges chose
Better Shelter as the winner
www.bettershelter.org
because it offers ‘a clear
demonstration of scalable
design that has the ability to
make a worldwide impact.’
Deco mag 30