Paper-based water tower for post-disaster emergency scenarios

This article describes a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative aiming the design, optimization, and construction of a water tower prototype for the victims of a natural disaster. The students of Architecture of Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland, were challenged to use paper tubes to provide a design solution with enough strength to be used in a post-earthquake scenario. After the initial designs, seismic response of the proposed towers was evaluated using a custom-made shaking table. The selected tower was then studied parametrically to obtain the most suitable geometry, in terms of preventing overlapping of building parts and easiness of construction. The final three-day intense process of construction and assembling of a 1:3 scale tower prototype provided the researchers and students with insights about connection details when using paper tubes. The initiative continues to explore the potential of applying pro-ecological material for temporary facilities covering basic needs after natural disasters.