Tent Cities - Defining The Need

A crisis in the financial markets is causing many people in the United States, and elsewhere in the world, to loose their homes because they are unable to pay their mortgages. Tent cities are beginning to spring up across the country as people have no where else to go. We can expect to see more of this as the crisis continues.

Climate changes due to global warming are increasingly predicted to cause severe changes in our weather patterns with disastrous results such as hurricanes, tornadoes and floods. This will cause more need for emergency shelters. Hurricane Katrina was one example of this. Another was the recent fires that raged through our forests causing hundreds of people to flee their homes.

The article and videos below will give you an idea of how big and widespread this problem is and of the desperate situation that ordinary people are finding themselves in. Many of the homeless people living in these tent cities are working men and women some with families. Innovative solutions need to be found for dealing with this crisis in a humane way as opposed to leaving these people to fend for themselves.


The population of Tent City has grown rapidly in less than a year

Tent city highlights US homes crisis
BBC News - Americas
Friday, 14 March 2008, 17:33 GMT

The meltdown in the US mortgage market has led to record foreclosures and forced thousands from their homes. In few places is it worse than southern California, where the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani reports on an extreme consequence of the downturn, but one that some observers fear could grow.

Forty miles east of Los Angeles, on a patch of waste ground, is the place they call Tent City. Sandwiched between the local airport and the railway line, this really is the wrong side of the tracks.

We are on the outskirts of Ontario, a functionally pleasant commuter-city in southern California.

Last summer, local officials established this camp as a temporary base for the city's homeless population, then around two dozen.

But word spread and now some 300 people live here. It has an air of scruffy permanence, and indeed, city officials say there are no current plans to close it down.

Tent cities have sprung up outside Los Angeles as people lose their homes in the mortgage crisis.

Read more...

California Shanty Town - more video showing the extent of the Tent City LA

Seattle Tent City

Homeless people living in temporary quarters as they seek permanent shelter.

Seattle, Wa. Tent City 3- more video showing extent of Tent City 3 here.

Miami Florida Tent City.

Edmonton Tent City

On September 15, 2007, the Province of Alberta shut down "Tent City," an empty lot that was used as a campground over the summer by the homeless in Edmonton. Here is a look at that final day.

More on Tent City Edmonton, Alberta here.

Original Graphic

I was thinking about actually putting together a small scale hexa yurt...Does anyone have any other ideas of what I could do for an original graphic I know there are yurts up at Sunpeaks but I don't think I would be able to get out there to take some pictures in time...Thanks

Building a 6 Ft. Hexayurt

6' Hexayurt
- 41 sq. ft.
- 4 ' at sides
- 6 ' at peak
- 8 ' x 6' 11"
5 - 4'x 8' sheets of Super Tuff R
2 - 60' rolls of 3" tape

Click on pictures for a larger view.




















































All hexayurts cut neatly from 4' x 8' sheets, the standard size for most construction goods.

The large sizes require only one kind of cut - diagonal cutting straight across six boards to form the roof triangles. Six 4'x8' boards are cut along the diagonal, three right-to-left, and three left-to-right. From these twelve right-angled triangles, six isosceles triangles are formed, making the roof cone. The vertical walls are formed from whole 4'x8' sheets.

The smaller sizes require a somewhat more complex cutting pattern for efficiency but all details are below.

If you are cutting angles:

• the angle between vertical boards and other vertical boards at the corners is 60° so you cut 30° on each edge.
• the angle between the vertical boards and the roof is also 60°.
• the angle between the boards on the roof cone is 29.5° so you might as well cut a 15° angle on each board.
• all boards which meet flat should have no angle cut on them at all, of course.

Angle cutting is not required for a perfectly good hexayurt of any size, as long as one is using wide enough tape. 3" will do, 6" is better.

Pictures and Caption from Hexayurt Schematics

Hexayurts As Shelters For The Homeless

I was thinking that these would make good shelters for homeless people in Kamloops. They could be put together as a kit which would include the hexayurt, tape (they could possibly be pretaped), stakes, cold cathode led light, inflatable air mattress and foot pump, sleeping bag and plastic ground sheet. The whole kit could be wrapped in the ground sheet and it would be easy to transport several of them in a truck. Funding and delivery could be handled by a NGO (Non Governmental Organization) that works with homeless people.
Some questions to answer for my research would be:
Where to put them?
Could these be allowed somehow through a zoning bylaw for temporary or emergency shelter?
What about heating in cold weather?
These are designed for hot climates so could they be adapted for winter use when most of the homeless in Kamloops are in most need of shelter?


The Hexayurt is a prize-winning shelter you can build yourself for about $200 (backup link). Suitable raw materials include common building materials ( fire safe insulation boards,) hexacomb cardboard and plastic. You cut six 4' x 8' panels in half diagonally to make the roof, and use six more whole panels to form the walls. It takes about two hours. The design (backup link) is in the public domain.
Picture and Caption from the Hexayurt Project

This is a short video about Hexayurts featuring their designer Vinay Gupta.

An email template!

This is a template of an email I will be sending to gather information from some different companies as well as government and non-governmental agencies. I will be tailoring it differently by asking specific questions for each company or agency. I am planning on sending this to Yurtco and Pacific Yurts (two companies that design and sell yurts), Hexayurts (emergency shelters inspired by yurts and the geodesic dome), City of Kamloops Planning Department and to a City of Kamloops building inspector. I am also planning on contacting a real estate company, building contractor and some non governmental organizations that might deal with a need for emergency shelters in the Kamloops area.

I will be asking questions about zoning regulations, costs of yurts, designs of yurts and possible financing options for a yurt village.

Does anyone have any ideas of what else I need to include or ideas for other places I could contact. Also, if you have any contacts can you please let me know.

Hi my name is Cari _________,

I am currently in my second year of Engineering Design and Drafting Technology at the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops BC. I am doing a research project as a requirement to graduate with my diploma. My research project is to determine if a yurt village could be a viable and ecolgically sustainable solution for temporary and emergency housing in the Kamloops, British Columbia area. I am gathering information on zoning bylaws, land use, costs, design and financing. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I also have a blog. If you would like to contact me there, you can leave a comment at http://cari-yurts.blogspot.com/.

Thanks in advance for your help

Cari _________

Ventilation of a Yurt!

The design of the yurt makes ventilation very simple. The yurt is designed in such a way that the roof peaks to a ring and the ring can be covered or left open.

To cool off a yurt is easy. Simply uncover the ring opening at the top center of the yurt. This will cause a vacuum effect which will pull cool air in from open windows and let warm air escape out the top, since warm air rises.

To warm a yurt is easy as well, simply cover the ring opening at the top center of the yurt. This will lock the air inside. Warm air will rise and then circulate back into the yurt warming the it up.

How it withstands wind loads!

Here is a little bit of information on how a yurt works and how it can withstand winds up to one hundred miles per hour.

The circular design of the yurt causes heavy winds directed at one point to be distributed evenly over the entire yurt frame. Because there are no flat points on the frame of the yurt, heavy winds can not blow them over or apart.

An aerodynamic shape:

The yurt's aerodynamic shape allows the wind to easily flow around it rather than pushing against flat walls.

http://www.yurts.com/what/default.aspx

What is a yurt?

A Yurt is a type of tent. It is a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure first used by the nomads of Mongolia. Today, there are many modern adaptations to this traditional dwelling such as durable, weatherproof outer covers and 'state of the art' insulating materials.

The design of the Yurt is highly efficient and maximizes strength while using only a minimum of materials. This is accomplished by using lightweight members under tension and compression.













Diagram from: http://simplydifferently.org/Yurt

The yurt's natural strength:
Rafters push inward on a compression ring and outward on a tension cable, which acts in a similar way to a hoop on a barrel preventing the rafters from moving/spreading outward."


Roof Loads:
Roof loads are transferred down the rafters to the tension cable






Diagram and captions from: http://www.yurts.com/what/default.aspx