3/10/06

SHIPPING CONTAINER DESIGNED BY AU STUDENTS BECOMES HOME FOR KATRINA VICTIM

GULFPORT, MISS. - A temporary housing unit designed by students in Auburn University’s College of Architecture, Design and Construction was moved Wednesday to benefit a family in hurricane-ravaged Gulfport, Miss.

The innovative, weather-resistant housing unit was made from a shipping container and transformed into a residence by graduate students in the college’s design/build program. It was loaded on a flat-bed tractor-trailer at AU’s Carolyn Draughon Village for transport to the Gulf Coast.

“Students in our program had the idea of using these shipping containers, which exist in abundance, to provide more stable housing for displaced disaster victims,” said D. K. Ruth, director of the program and co-founder and director emeritus of AU’s heralded Rural Studio.
Ruth’s students partnered with undergraduate students in AU’s social work program, who researched and identified coastal residents in need of the housing. The team selected Barbra Meyer, a 67-year-old woman who lived in Gulfport for six years before losing her home to Hurricane Katrina.

Meyer, a volunteer with the Area Agency on Aging, is a former special education teacher with a bachelor’s degree in social services. She has three children, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She said dealing with the destruction and devastation brought about by Katrina has been tough.

“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and everything is going to be OK,” she said. “I am trying to stay positive and know that God is going to take care of everything. I am really looking forward to my new home.”

Meyer’s new home is designed to make maximum use of natural light and ventilation and includes a wall air-conditioning unit, ceiling fans and a small refrigerator. It was also built to accommodate standard FEMA-distributed five-gallon potable water containers.

The container was modified for approximately $2,500. Ruth noted that there is a surplus of the containers in the Southeast and throughout the United States. The containers are typically 8-feet wide, 40-feet long and 9-feet high. They are designed to be weatherproof, withstand harsh environmental conditions and support loads of up to several tons. They are easily stackable for transport.

Ruth and his students refer to the units as “pirogues,” a term used to describe a special dug-out canoe used to maneuver through the swamps of southern Louisiana. “A pirogue is used as a safe refuge in the swamp and that is what we are trying to do – provide a safe refuge,” Ruth said.