Hi Deepa. I had read and commented on this product in another blog written by our friend Atul.

I am sorry but the utility of this shelter looks to me more like a luxury camp than as a refuge shelter.
Sure its easy to transport and erect but will it be cheap? I believe canvas tents score as refuge shelters cause they can be easily transported and erected, they can withstand severe weather conditions and they are cheap... my thoughts.

Agreed that canvas tents have and will always be the most fundamental and time tested option for such shelters. But that cannot stop the designers from coming up with improved and comfortable concepts.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against development of new designs and bettering what we already have, my point is this just does not fit in as a mass refuge shelter.

You have very correctly said that it can be touted as the ”mansion of emergency housing options”.
Tents may not be comfortable as accommodation but when its a question of survival, the type of accommodation hardly matters, espl since its cheap and can be very easily transported and erected.
With all due respect to the designer, I cannot see mass use of this product in disaster struck poor countries.

It can serve as shelters for longer durations like months or may be a year also. With places affected by disastrous earthquakes, such shelters can become luxurious homes. Till the time government erects concrete buildings to shelter such homeless victims.
It is no practical to think of living it out in tents for months together.

As far as eco points go, I think it seems quite eco-friendly and as you pointed out, future version can have solar lined roof walls instead of solar panels...and can even consider power generation by wind (in case used in high wind disaster area).

That’s exactly what I feel. What it does serve as, is a personal refuge in case of disaster.
Its like if I owe one of these and my house goes down due to natural calamity, I can set up my own comfortable temporary shelter and live in it very comfortably for how much ever long I want.
But I feel its impractical to think that NGOs and govt aid workers will come to setup individual luxury homes like this for people affected by disaster.