Say hello to Alastair Pryor, a young humanitarian in Australia and a social entrepreneur, who has come up with quite an innovation. Known as Compact Shelter, the gadget is a foldable shelter that can be used during a crisis and shall provide shelter for the victims or those who have been displaced. The popping up and popping down of this shelter can be achieved in less than 2 minutes. The invention is quite simple to use, modular, lightweight and can be folded.
In words of Pryor, he got the inspiration to create this when he unintentionally disturbed a homeless man, as Pryor recalls; ‘ I used to work as a ‘tradie’, building scaffolding and one morning we were drilling and it woke up a homeless man below us. It really made me think about how poor his living conditions were. I thought if I could design a shelter that he could fold up each day or fold into a box it would be highly beneficial. I worked on this idea for quite some time until I started to think on a larger scale – aid relief. So I created a larger shelter to fit four people.’
As you might have realized by now, the compact shelter was designed in order to provide the basic necessity of humanity; a place to take shelter in. The idea was to bring a solution that is cost effective and can be used as an aid. It has been made from polypropylene that has been stabilized using UV. The shelter weighs in at 16 kg and can be folded down for easy transportation. Once folded down; it measures in at 79x40x2.75 inches while measuring in at 6.5×6.5×6.5 ft when it has been erected completely. It is capable of providing shelter to two adults and two children.
As mentioned earlier; the Compact Shelter is modular in design and individual units can be added into one another to create a bigger shelter for families that need larger area or if you need separate rooms in the shelter – privacy being the crucial reason here. As far as the choice of material is concerned; Pryor opted for polypropylene since it is capable of resisting weather and has great thermal characteristics. The Compact Shelter has proven itself as a worthy option for all kinds of weather conditions, satisfies the standards of aid relief organizations and is water & wind proof. The shelter has been designed in such a way that it allows for the cool air to enter from beneath while lets the hot air go out via the ridge line.
Pryor says; ‘It has the twin wall profile extrusion meaning its thermal qualities are amazing during colder climates. We have also specifically teamed up with manufacturers that have the capability to fully recycle the polypropylene by melting it back down and reproducing it. We’re proud to say we’re 100 percent recyclable.’
Remaining true to his original aim of why he created this shelter; Pryor has kept the price of individual unit of Compact Shelter at $150. Check out the youtube video below for more: