Relief for Turkey and Syria

Voluntary Architects’ Network + Shigeru Ban Architects have provided Paper Partition System (PPS) in evacuation centers in Antakya and Mersin in southern Turkey, as well as Paper Log Houses (PLH) in Antakya, in response to the Turkey-Syria earthquake that occurred on February 26, 2023.

Paper Log House

Following the 1999 earthquake in northwestern Turkey, Voluntary Architects’ Network and Shigeru Ban Architects developed and built temporary housing using paper tubes. The temporary housing for those affected by the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquake is an improved version of this earlier system, with a focus on construction efficiency and minimizing on-site building time.

The foundation is composed of beer crates filled with sandbags, while wooden panels form the walls between paper tube columns spaced at 1.2-meter intervals. The roof is constructed from paper tube frames and plywood decking, with large openings cut into the plywood so that workers can operate from below rather than climbing on top, ensuring safety during construction. Due to the cold climate, adequate insulation is provided for the floor, walls, and roof.

The project was realized in collaboration with Urgent Design Studio / Acil Tasarım Stüdyosu, with construction support from students of the Faculty of Architecture at Middle East Technical University.
The teams involved in realizing this project also include Mozaik Design (Yaman Erturan), who served as the main financial sponsor; Bütün Çocuklar Bizim Derneği, who contributed by furnishing the interiors, overseeing ongoing maintenance, and organizing workshops for children following the completion of the housing; ODTÜMİST, the alumni NGO who provided financial support and organizational connections; and the Turkish Association of Architects in Private Practice (TSMD), who supported the project through the organization of events in Ankara.

October 7, 2023

A second workshop for log house construction was held on-site.

May 4, 2023

March 30, 2023

We constructed the mockup of paper log house with the students from Shibaura Institute of Technology .

Paper Partition System

Voluntary Architects’ Network + Shigeru Ban Architects have provided Paper Partition System (PPS) in evacuation centers in Antakya and Mersin in response to the Turkey-Syria earthquake that occurred on February 26, 2023. PPS is a simple partition system to ensure privacy for inhabitants in evacuation centers, and this has been used in numerous evacuation centers in regions hit by disasters such as the Great East Japan Earthquake (2011), Kumamoto Earthquake (2016), Hokkaido Earthquake (2018), and torrential rain in southern Kyushu (2020). PPS has also been installed in evacuation centers in neighboring countries of Ukraine for people who have lost their homes due to the Russian invasion in 2022.

Supported by

Team

– Yaman Erturan
– Murat ERDEBİL
– Selda Kapucu
– Funda Can Atabay
– Mauricio Morales Beltran
– Ecenur Kızılörenli
– Jerzy Latka
– Tuğçe Arı
– Ezgi Nalci

March 05, 2023

The installation process at the Field Hospital, Antakya.