WikiHouse FirstState Builds Refugee Housing Relief
(Editor’s note: This article was submitted by five members of the WikiHouse FirstState Team at Mount Pleasant High School: Jeffrey Wilson, Zach Galbraith, Julian Kukulich, Nate Nickerson, and CJ Lyons. Check them out online at their website or on Twitter, and consider donating to their cause at GoFundMe.)
WikiHouse FirstState is the world’s first student-led chapter of the WikiHouse movement. Our goal is to develop a proof of concept for sustainable, locally manufactured housing for disaster relief, low-income, or reduced footprint applications. Inspired by recent events, we hope this project can provide a permanent solution to the displacement of refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
Approximately one out of every 116 people on this earth has had to leave their home to flee from persecution or disaster. Many live in extreme poverty, becoming destitute with minimal resources. Many more will perish due to inhospitable environments and no way to insulate themselves from the harsh reality of their living situation. Aid sent to conflicted areas such as the Middle East is effective for short times, but lacks sustainability and viability for long-term solutions. Delaware’s extension of the WikiHouse Foundation, WikiHouse FirstState, aims to solve this crisis by introducing a sustainable, abiding, shelter for refugees. This is why the WikiHouse is so important: It is a shelter that can be useful for longer than a tent can and also aids in the upkeep of food, sanitation, water, and other necessities.
WikiHouse structures can be assembled quickly by people with little or no construction experience. The pieces of the frame and shell are cut from plywood on a computer-controlled mill known as a Shot-Bot. The pieces are assembled with a mallet through interlocking technology. With easy construction, these houses can be built and taken down within two days. If these homes were sent to refugees, they could be a solution for sustaining generations to come.
From prototyping our design to preparing our build location, we are busy performing prerequisite tasks for the development of our final product. To reach this ambitious goal as quickly as possible, we need to acquire funding for or source materials. In addition to seeking corporate grants, we have established a team GoFundMe and a KickStarter (soon to come) account for personal donations. With the support of the public, WikiHouse FirstState can contribute relief to growing populations experiencing disaster and displacement around the world.
The WikiHouse FirstState team is comprised of students and teachers in the engineering pathway at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington, Delaware. Our 8,000-square-foot engineering design lab includes modern collaborative development tools and rapid prototyping capabilities, as well as traditional and CNC fabrication. This class is a capstone course for the practical application of our learned design methodology, with a local and global community-minded focus. The students in this class have extensive experience in applying engineering knowledge to practical challenges in our community.
Our class is organized in a strategic way: working in functional groups, we plan to deliver a completed full scale model of our WikiHouse by spring 2016. Our team keeps a detailed worklog and organizational chart in order to increase productivity and adhere to the schedule we have set for ourselves.
During Delaware’s Innovation Week, our team presented the vision of our project to many local corporations and individuals. We helped to spread awareness of our project and goals.
Other media coverage of WikiHouse FirstState:
Delaware Public Media: High school students tackle housing solutions for refugees
Technically Delaware: Check out all the cool STEM projects these Mount Pleasant High students are working on
DelawareOnline: Students make housing for refugees, disaster relief