Sandbag Homes

Award-Winning Sandbag Shelters

After the horrific earthquake in Bam, Iran (we mentioned it during our last meeting), there was a push to improve emergency preparedness and multiple proposals were put forward. One of the most meritorious proposals for the project was using local building materials for residential homes that would sustain earthquake shocks of a certain scale. As you know sandbags are incredibly flexible, even more so than wood, or any traditional building material. The sandbag homes are fairly inexpensive, and quick to build and can be finished in a variety of styles. They can be built as small shelters or as large-scale houses. Pictured here is a sandbag home that has been finished with plaster – which both looks aesthetically pleasing (can be made spaciously, and plays the important role of inexpensive disaster preparedness. Other finishes have been adobe style, which are popular in rural areas. I think these are rather ingenious for the region and can probably be used in other regions of the world.


These pictures are from archnet.org

For more info, you can look at this link:
http://archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=8219