Volunteers in orange safety vests and goggles feeding long cardboard tubes into a cutting machine at a factory, with factory staff watching behind

Volunteer Work

Paper Partition Shelters

Year: March 2023
Classification: Volunteer Work
Status: Volunteer work
Location: Bursa, Mersin and Hatay, Türkiye
Team: Gökalp Kalfa
Ozan Yaşar
Initiated by: Shigeru Ban Architects – Voluntary Architects' Network (opens in a new tab)
Project Lead: Mauricio Morales-Beltran (opens in a new tab)
Sponsor: Konfida (opens in a new tab)

After the February 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye, volunteers from the Voluntary Architects' Network, Shigeru Ban Architects, Wrocław University of Science and Technology and Yaşar University installed the Paper Partition System (PPS) in the affected region. The system divides shared shelters and field hospitals into private family units and examination rooms using paper tubes and fabric.

At Konfida's production facility in Bursa, Mauricio Morales-Beltran, Gökalp Kalfa and Yaşar University graduate Ozan Yaşar prepared 5,000 paper tubes for 500 units in four days. Mauricio Morales-Beltran then led their installation in the disaster area, from shelters in Mersin to field hospitals in Hatay.

Photographs

01 / 04

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality staff and volunteers assembling the paper tube frames inside a shelter tent, with tubes lying on the floor and bedding behind. — 01Assembling the paper tube frames in a shelter tent.

A prototype partition of paper tubes with white fabric hung over the horizontal tubes, set up in the factory with racks of tubes behind. — 02A prototype unit at the factory, paper tubes and fabric.

Rows of white fabric partitions on paper tube frames filling the floor of the Mersin Yenişehir sports hall, seen from the stands. — 03Partitions in the Mersin Yenişehir sports hall.

A corridor between paper partition units inside a shelter tent, each unit holding a camp bed with blankets and personal belongings hung on the tubes. — 04Private family units inside a shelter tent.