These domed structures can be erected by unskilled workers in one day and, when built from used tires, have material costs of just $100 each. Levinton is now soliciting donations from tire manufacturers and mobilizing forces to begin construction.
     One month after the earthquake, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban traveled across the country and visited the emergency housing settlements that have sprung up. In response, he collaborated with architecture students at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, to devise an elegant transitional tent structure with an arched paper tube frame. He and his team are acquiring funding to build fifty houses.
     The final drive in relief housing efforts is to build shelters that can remain in place after the hurricane season and become permanent homes. This strategy is particularly important because Haiti’s housing stock was sorely inadequate even before the earthquake. Because they’re intended to remain in place, designs for these structures are more ambitious aesthetically and also aim to reestablish a vibrant city fabric.
     Habitat for Humanity is now constructing Core Houses, simple, earthquake-resistant masonry homes that can be expanded in the future to meet a family’s evolving needs. The simple designs of these homes incorporate traditional masonry construction methods and house types.
     Miami-based designer and planner Andres Duany has teamed with mobile home manufacturer InnoVida to design special mobile home units for Haiti that reflect its colorful traditional architecture. His team will fabricate and install 1,000 houses and will also build a factory in Haiti to fabricate additional units.
     Two promising long-term schemes reuse the steel shipping crates that are arriving in Haiti filled with relief supplies. According to one estimate, 7,000 empty crates are currently available for use at Haitian ports. American architect Richard Moreta and his organization Green Container International Aid have developed a scheme for phased housing. Crates will be deployed to a site and, with minimal modification, transformed into group shelters. As emergency needs subside, containers can be stacked on top of one another to build larger, permanent houses, and finally grouped like blocks within a large steel frame to build apartment-like complexes with open courtyards and balconies. Moreta and his team are now soliciting container donations internationally and searching for appropriate sites in Haiti to start construction.
     Clemson University architecture professors Martha Skinner and Doug Hecker initiated the SEED project, which aims to to build 1,000 homes in Haiti from shipping containers. They’ve devised a simple design to convert a standard container to a family house with minimal cost and effort, and hope to lay out the houses in a way that will accommodate new walkways, streets, and community centers. The comprehensive SEED plan includes strategies for delivering and modifying the containers, planning new communities, integrating garden spaces, and powering the houses with renewable energy sources. Currently Skinner and Hecker are partnering with various international agencies to implement their plan.
     The situation in Haiti is so dire that any type of new housing is better than no housing at all. A sad reality, however, is that emergency housing built now might remain in use for years, or even for generations.  It’s imperative to act quickly, while also considering how to build in a way that’s lasting and humane.