Adaptive Rapid Shelter for Forcibly Displaced People
Master of Architecture Studio
Spring 2022
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck the coast of the Pacific Northwest, producing a tsunami that obliterated everything inside a skinny swath of coastline, seven hundred miles long and up to three miles deep, from the northern border of California to southern Canada, also known as the tsunami-inundation zone. The impact of the tsunami was more localized but more thoroughgoing.
Climate disasters deeply affected Coos Bay, one area within the tsunami-inundation zone. With a population of 16,000 people, a median age of 41, and a median household income of $37,985, the residents were overwhelmed by the destruction: destroyed structure, contaminated water supply, overburdened sewage system, decimated ecosystem, land, and sea, and devastating human loss. As a result, around 70 residents, with households ranging from 1 to 6 members, sought refuge in sunset bay state park, a relatively flat area fenced in by large steadfast Douglas firs.
