Recently, there's been renewed interest in post-disaster and emergency relief architecture, with high-profile members of the profession—like Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and Chilean designer Alejandro Aravena, whose bodies of work are largely geared toward public interest work in their respective home countries—clinching architecture's highest honor, the Pritzker Prize.
While the debate rages on about whether or not the enthusiasm for such designs is just a fad or indicative of a larger shift, architects the world over soldier on. In Thailand, for example, following that country's 6.1-magnitude 2014 earthquake, has set out to rebuild its infrastructure and schools.
This primary school in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province, called "Baan Nong Bua School" and designed by Bangkok firm Junsekino Architects with funding help from non-profit Design for Disasters, melds elements of Western and vernacular architecture, merging a flat, corrugated-metal roof with polycarbonate and steel walls and bamboo screens and partitions. The structure accommodates four classrooms and an "activity space" for the students, who range in age from five to 10.
It's not the first such school to be constructed of modular components and raised on stilts: Another project in northern Thailand, also sponsored by Design for Disasters, was also elevated, to help give it more solid footing on a steeply sloped site.
∙ junsekino elevates and rebuilds rural school after earthquake in thailand [Designboom]
∙ Tour an Earthquake-Resistant School Raised on Stilts [Curbed]