APoC
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) estimates that 30,000 citizens are homeless every night, and at least 200,000 experience the condition in any given year. Developed in response to this statistic, the Architectural Prototype Companion, or APoC, is a temporary pavilion whose geometry was generated from a truncated sphere. The massing was then divided into double-curvature components that are sized for easy transport. Tessellation was avoided, as stiffness would not be achieved without a secondary structural frame to support the planar panels. Instead, each plate is engineered from laminated birchwood that can be warped by two people into a stable and strong double-layer shell. The outer surface overlaps with the system of the inner enclosure so that the shelter is a self-supporting monocoque.
Project: Mariana Ibañez, Simon Kim
Design Team: Ben Ruswick, Ki-Moon Kim
Structural Engineer: BuroHappold