Death To Architecture has recently posted “The New York City Office of Emergency Management is sponsoring an open competition to generate solutions for post-disaster provisional housing” They write that it is a “call for innovation and an opportunity for designers and policy-makers to collaborate on one of the biggest challenges facing densely settled urban areas after a disaster”.It is clear that global warming is going storm unlike those that we have seen before in our past. My question is, however, how possible would it really be to implement a new type of housing into a cosmopolitain city like New York?

In third world countries when there is a natural disaster and a population of people are displaced, they seem more able to adopt and accept a “temporary” style of living, being accustomed to this type of uncertainty and deconstructabilty in their ordinary sheltering systems. But, in New York, the theme in buildings is not subsistence, it is prestige. Will people pay top dollar for an upper east side shanty that is a temporary shelter with a view overlooking a flooded city? They answer is that as long as their shanty is the best, they probably will.

It will be interesting to see what they competitors for this competition submit. I think as long as they keep in mind the need to display wealth and pay exorbitant prices for small temporary structures they will be great. My proposal is that all of the temporary structuresbe branded by famous fashion designers. That would be hot… or cool as the case may be!

Image from The Blog Le fabuleux monde de Dom en Chine