
Ikea's flat-pack refugee shelter is entering production - nkurz
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/26/8287509/ikea-refugee-shelter-flatpack-photos-iraq-syria
======
stove
These units seem to be priced at $1,000 for anyone else who was curious.

Source: [http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-09/thousand-
do...](http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-09/thousand-dollar-ikea-
house-refugees-big-pic)

~~~
bane
10,000 of these are contracted to the UNHCR.

I've always found it curious; often innovations in the refugee arena would
often be very welcome in other venues: camping, cheap structures, etc. These
things are always priced really cheap, but we never see them really entering
into the commercial market -- or when they do, they're always going for some
kind of 2x the price scheme.

For example, these 188 sqft shelters would be great as a sheds, or workshops
in affluent areas. Heck, I'd like to buy one for my parents to use as a
storage shed on their property. Equivalent sized sheds (without solar power,
or good design) run >$2000.

I see this all the time, nifty water purifiers, portable lights, radios, etc.
There's some really interesting stuff being produced for refugees. Instead of
crazy 2:1 schemes or whatever, why not just sell these on a 20% markup and
donate the profit to buying more shelters? Or just sell them and push the
price down due to the greater economies of scale?

The refugee space always seems so weird to me.

~~~
chmullig
Have you considered that maybe actually selling them to end users is > double
the cost?

Massive amounts of risk, supply chain, logistics, all eliminated when selling
to the UN like this.

~~~
Retric
Don't forget about advertising which on it's own often adds 20% to niche items
costs.

Also, CC processing might be ~3% but it's added on at the end. aka 3% of
manufacturing, 3% sales etc. Which can add up to 10% of the initial
manufacturing cost.

~~~
systemtheory
Some companies minimize advertising budget but manage do do very well.
Patagonia spends less than 1% of sales on advertising.
([http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/brand-strategy-
tha...](http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/brand-strategy-that-shifts-
demand.aspx))

------
adamesque
There's a startup in Austin, TX aiming to compete in a similar space:
[http://www.reactionhousing.com](http://www.reactionhousing.com)

Full disclosure: I work there. ;) And if you find this sort of mission
compelling: we're hiring software engineers! (firmware, backend)
[http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#embedded-firmware-
en...](http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#embedded-firmware-engineer)
[http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#software-
engineer](http://www.reactionhousing.com/careers/#software-engineer)

Our design is quite different (and geared towards a shorter length of stay)
but all the same, I'm excited to see these go into production.

~~~
nl
How many of those can you fit in a shipping container? It looks like it is
rigid, whilst the Ikea ones are flat pack.

Logistics is _everything_ in disaster relief.

~~~
Potando
They nest inside each other as the picture shows. This is clearly a low-labour
product. Though I think if you have a lot of people needing a house, there's
already a pool of excess labor available.

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euroclydon
If my wife and I had lived in one of those for our first two years of
marriage, we could have saved up one heck of a down payment for our first
house.

~~~
Someone1234
Likely but the real problem with doing so is actually land. Even if you own
some many cities take issue with non-permanent domiciles that are lived in for
long periods (not least of all because you escape housing tax, and aren't up
to "code").

However several people have done what you're suggesting by:

\- Living on a boat (either out at sea, moored just off-shore, or at a
marina). This can range from being cheaper, to being much more expensive.

\- Campervan, or enclosed truck. They often park semi-legally overnight and
move every few days to escape harassment. Bathrooms are problematic (gym?
work?).

\- Camping (i.e. just tent and woods). This often escapes harassment (since
you aren't in a city) but you are limited by water, and often travelling
to/from the site is time consuming if you wish to work.

\- Living at work (if possible). Likely legal but can get you fired thus
homeless.

\- Living a hotel. Some people have claimed that they can live in a hotel for
less than the cost of a mortgage + utilities + taxes + other expenses. Ditto
with some cruises. YMMV.

\- Living in a foreign country. If you work remotely living abroad or in the
middle of nowhere can cost a LOT less than living in a big expensive city.

PS - In general being homeless is "illegal" in most US cities. You'd get
harassed, maybe even arrested, just for being without a fixed address. Most
cities will try to run you out of town (literally and figuratively).

~~~
munificent
> Campervan, or enclosed truck. They often park semi-legally overnight and
> move every few days to escape harassment. Bathrooms are problematic (gym?
> work?).

My neighborhood has had an increasing influx of these in the past few months.
At first I figured, "Live and let live. If this is all they can afford until
they get back on their feet, more power to them."

Since then, I've learned that the solution to the bathroom problem is often
"shit in the alley behind my house", and their daytime activities typically
consist of dealing and doing drugs and scattering trash. I ran out of sympathy
right around the time I found a used needle near the front yard where my
toddler likes to run around and play.

~~~
Potando
Sounds like your problem is drug users/dealers, not people with mobile homes.
I hope you wouldn't also want to push out the good ones who aren't causing
problems. You can just consider that you now live in a bad neighborhood. Some
people have this from their permanent house neighbors too.

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amelius
It would be nice to see a list of requirements these shelters have to adhere
to. It would illustrate how difficult the design space is.

------
Shivetya
I haven't found their weight, but their lifespan in only estimated to be three
years, does anyone know if they are easily recyclable, do they burn, if so are
any gases toxic?

Can they be combined to form interlinked structures?

~~~
elif
I'm guessing that the end-of-life path for 95% of these are shantytowns..
where they will continue to be among the safest structures. so in that regard,
they are completely recyclable.

------
keeran
Makes me think of the Hexayurt project.

[http://hexayurt.com/](http://hexayurt.com/)

------
maerF0x0
They should do a tom's shoes thing with this. We both could have a house.

~~~
danudey
Sure, but then you have to find some place to put it. The house I'm living in
is worth $25k, but the land it's on is worth $1.6m last I checked. It's not
always about a place to put your things, it's about where to put the place to
put your things.

~~~
Sanddancer
Depends. There's a lot of cheap land in the western US once you get away from
the city where $5k-$10k will get you a place you can plop a few of these
things down when you wanna get away from things. You'll have to bring your
utilities with you, but water tanks, solar panels, etc aren't horribly
expensive these days.

~~~
bryanlarsen
There are towns in rural Saskatchewan Canada that will sell you a serviced lot
for $1 if you agree to build a house on the lot and live in it for three
years.

~~~
tonyarkles
And some are even offering tax credits to move there. Pardon the ugly link, it
seems the main town website is currently down.
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GyiysDw...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GyiysDwTCdgJ:allan.ca/moving/population-
growth/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca)

As a curiosity, are you from around here? I'm in Saskatoon right now, but
we've got some land down in the Last Mountain Lake area that we might develop
with a small "away from the city" home. (In fact, my girlfriend purchased
it... 3 lots and an old unplumbed church for $1).

------
smegel
I think a flat-packed boat with the autopilot set for Italy or Australia would
be far more popular.

~~~
threeseed
They wouldn't make it to Australia. The government would force them to Nauru
or Cambodia where they would be locked up in basically a prison until the
tried to commit suicide or were beaten/raped by staff. Or until they gave up
and decided to go back to where they came from.

Australia truly is a lovely, compassionate country.

~~~
rmc
And if you're gay and try to flee persecution and claim asylum in Australia,
they send you to Papua New Guinea. Where being gay is a crime.

------
camhenlin
So when can we buy these at the local ikea?

~~~
ics
It would be really great if they sold these such that one purchase could cover
the cost of one for charity. It would be even better if there was enough
demand to drive the production cost down further.

~~~
justin66
> It would be really great if they sold these such that one purchase could
> cover the cost of one for charity.

No, absolutely not. This is the same mistake the one laptop per child people
made.

Just sell the shit out of them to everyone who can use one. Economies of scale
will bring the price down. The "buy two, get one!" approach deters people from
buying them and shoots economies of scale in the head.

~~~
ics
Depending on how much they cost as well as how much IKEA wants to profit from
their sale, it could be well within their reach to charge (for example)
Americans what one would expect for an IKEA garden shed, writer's shed,
whatever you want to call it. If you search prefab outdoor sheds on Sears,
you'll see that prices vary from around $300 to $2000 depending on size and
materials and taking sale prices into account. One advantage IKEA has is that
they thrive on people _buying in_ to their systems, even when it's not
necessarily cheaper than the alternative. That can be attributed to better
design, integration/continuity (i.e. "everything just goes well together"), or
just shopper's fatigue after a day of wandering through an IKEA store. How
much would you be willing to pay for it? That's the only question IKEA needs
an answer. If the can sell it for cost x 2 without an average IKEA shopper
batting an eye then they're golden. Whether they want to try squeezing a
profit in there is up to them but by no means necessary. They get publicity
and a new product line.

To address what you've said about OLPC, I don't think it's a good comparison
at all. Problems with the OLPC in this case: huge restructuring due to the
economy, never intended for consumers, and in an already massive product field
(PCs > Laptops > Netbooks). Still, the _Give 1 Get 1_ campaign netted 83,500
sales. That's pretty good, considering the cost was $400 in the same year that
the MacBook Air became available for $1800 (which people thought was pretty
high then). How many of those people expected to actually use their OLPC? How
many people do you think would buy an IKEA shed just for it to sit around and
make them feel charitable or something?

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analog31
As I understand it, Buckminster Fuller designed a geodesic dome to be made
from wax coated cardboard. The pieces were printed with instructions for
assembly with some kind of large stapler. His intention was for these to be
used in similar situations such as refugees, disaster relief, etc. He claimed
that the structures would survive rainy seasons and winters, but that they
were still supposed to be temporary.

------
draugadrotten
This could also be used to provide housing to Sweden's rapidly increasing
population of homeless beggars

[http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&art...](http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6044464)

~~~
ptaipale
The problem of housing in Stockholm isn't about how expensive it is to build;
it is about zoning (and rent control on top of that).

Generally, third-world solutions (tents, shantytowns, container homes, or
this) are a solution for how to build cheaply. First-world problems are mostly
about zoning and permissions to build.

------
mc32
These remind me of an architecture project to produce semi livable spaces for
Tokyo homeless. The blue tarpaulin structures. I think there was a German
movie cherry something or other in which a terminally ill man who travels to
Japan to gets to know a girl who lives in one such structure in one of the
parks there. This is bigger and perhaps more durable. But too big for a
homeless person to move to a new spot, if necessary, in a hurry.

If they could marry the modularity of this with the size and portability of
the blue tarp structures, this could be an option to homeless communities who
prefer not to go to official shelters.

In other words, I wonder if they could take this but build a version for
individual homeless people.

------
cbd1984
How easy are these things to heat and cool?

How well do they keep insects and other pests out?

------
yurylifshits
I'd love to see a similar approach to San Francisco homelessness problem.

At $1000 per unit, housing costs for all homeless people in SF will be below
$100M.

~~~
Perdition
Congratulations you have re-invented slums!

~~~
officemonkey
Google Hooverville

------
ChuckMcM
These look pretty functional. A bit sturdier than the typical Army tent and no
external guy wires. Given that they have been testing these, how do they hold
up in the field to wind? I was recently asked how I would provide shelter for
people working on a pipeline in the middle of no where, and this looks like it
would fit the bill.

------
swatow
This is really impressive. The problem is highly constrained. Because a house
is a sturdy structure, large amounts of physical material are involved.
Furthermore, there are quality/safety requirements.

It's great to see Ikea applying their deep expertise in producing sturdy
structures that can be shipped cheaply, to this area.

------
wjan
What about sustainability, ecology, ease to dispose the materials? Isn't that
gonna trash the land?

------
patmcc
I'd buy one of these this summer no question - my wife's family lives on a
small, mostly uninhabited island, and has some space set aside for a cabin for
us. But building much of anything there is crazy expensive, so this would be
awesome.

Sell these in Canada/America, please!

------
Tloewald
[http://gizmodo.com/the-un-is-ordering-10-000-of-ikeas-
brilli...](http://gizmodo.com/the-un-is-ordering-10-000-of-ikeas-brilliant-
flatpack-r-1693716589)

Gizmodo link that worked for me.

Looks great. Simple, robust, decent size, solar powered, ventilated, lockable.

------
largote
These look like the solution to Bay Area housing prices. BRB going to IKEA.

~~~
guelo
Single family structures _are_ the problem in the bay area. We need way more
density than these things can provide.

------
ape4
They should throw in some Billys or Ivars for the refugee's stuff.

~~~
ptaipale
Aren't the refugees suffering enough already?

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androck1
I can hardly put together an IKEA shelving unit in 4 hours...

------
systemtheory
I think these are engineering-wise fantastic. Though, I do worry that they
look a little too non-local. When you take care of someone, sure you start at
the base of Maslow's law of hierarchy, but it is important to take cultural,
personal, etc. issues into consideration as well. This hold especially true
when dealing with prolonged displacement where identity and self-worth can be
challenged.

~~~
mlmonkey
I disagree. The condescension that western people show to the rest of the
world is very grating, as a non-westerner.

People don't care about "culture" when it comes to basic needs and survival. A
roof, any roof, over my head is worth infinitely more than no roof when it's
raining outside or -10 degrees.

------
pearjuice
It would be interesting to buy these and use them to live in abandoned
buildings.

------
abandonliberty
Nice to see the 28 billion dollar charity actually doing some.

[http://www.fastcodesign.com/3035734/infographic-of-the-
day/i...](http://www.fastcodesign.com/3035734/infographic-of-the-day/ikea-is-
a-nonprofit-and-yes-thats-every-bit-as-fishy-as-it-sounds)

~~~
cjensen
This cannot be said often enough: "non-profit" is a phrase relating to the tax
situation of a corporation. It is not synonymous with "good", "charitable", or
even "not greedy." On the flip side, "for-profit" is not necessarily
synonymous with "evil" or "non-charitable".

~~~
frogpelt
I've noticed lately that a good portion of society views legal tax sheltering
and legal reduction of tax burden as immoral.

The thought seems to be if you are making lots of money you are obligated to
freely hand over a good chunk of it to the government.

IKEA is very creative in their tax avoidance. Interestingly enough, it may
actually be a net gain for the countries where IKEA employs people. Because of
their ultra-low tax burden and the fact that the profits mostly have to go
back into the business, they are able to pay more employees AND pay their
employees more. Those employees in turn pay taxes to support the government.

~~~
abandonliberty
A simple test to use is to ask what would happen if all organizations did the
same thing. It would have to be structured differently.

Nonprofits are barred from distributing profits, and IKEA uses a loop hole -
trademark costs - to circumvent this.

As for paying more people better, the evidence doesn't support this. IKEA
tends to match standard retail wages: store managers make approximately $125K,
and salespeople $28K.[1] Near Vancouver, Canada, IKEA recently weathered a 17
month strike from its union. [2]

[1] [http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/video-why-is-ikea-a-non-
profit...](http://www.onlinemba.com/blog/video-why-is-ikea-a-non-profit/) [2]
[http://www.richmondreview.com/news/280108422.html](http://www.richmondreview.com/news/280108422.html)

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smilekzs
The interior reminded me of the magical tents in Harry Potter movies.

------
rapidally3
Do they come with the hex key?

------
CrazyRabbit
why do i want to cry when i see those pictures?

------
codeshaman
These things are great. But at the same time - so weird.

Helpless victims of failed states, social injustice, greed, hatred, etc can
now rely on high tech structures to take care of them.

Genocide ? No problem, we've got you covered. We've got just the perfect
structures for $1000 a pop for you to take shelter in.

I mean, it IS the right thing to do, but at the same time, I don't know..

I guess would prefer that somehow there were no refugees and suffering in the
first place...

It's a strange thing to say, but somehow, by providing these solutions we're
making the crimes less grave, more acceptable, a technical matter rather than
a moral one...?

~~~
eggnet
No, what this is, is cheap shelter.

The rest of what you are saying is just an inability to cope with reality. And
I mean that in the nicest way possible.

It is hard, and deeply troubling, to accept that there is such a large group
of displaced people in the world who could use something like this.

