Flat/Fold Emergency Shelter System

"Flat/Fold" is a rapid-response, short-to-medium-term, emergency shelter system. This system will improve upon the favorable aspects of emergency tent shelters while rectifying their deficiencies by the using a lightweight yet rigid corrugated polypropylene panels called “Coroplast.”

Tents are now the best rapid response emergency shelter system used to aid people displaced by natural or human-produced disasters. Tents are designed for a few weeks or months of inhabitation. But the reality is that a many displaced people continue to live in emergency tents for years. Tents degrade quickly when exposed to climatic forces such as wind, rain, and ultra-violet light from the sun. Also, tents do not provide significant thermal mediation.

Like tents, Flat/Fold is relatively lightweight, folds flat into an easily transportable object, and is quickly deployable. Unlike tents, Flat/Fold is durable, reusable, waterproof, and provides thermal comfort.

After an emergency, Flat/Fold is folded out like a cardboard box to rapidly create the volume of the shelter. Once an emergency has abated, Flat/Fold can be folded flat again for transport with great ease to be deployed at the next emergency event.