Bucky Would Be Proud: Emergency Shelter Design at SIU

This week, the walkway along Faner Hall at Southern Illinois University has been graced with the work of--what I assume are--student designs for emergency shelter. It appears that the requirement for the project was to create an easy-to-assemble shelter out of plywood and a blue tarp that collects rain water. Other than the mock-up display boards that accompany most of these designs, there is little evidence of who created these gems or why (other then the assumed super-cool, socially-relevant class project). Regardless, I am glad to see that the tradition of design from simple materials, a concept that our own Bucky Fuller practiced here at SIU, continues. Here are a few highlights of our favorite designs.