P.O.D.

P.O.D. stands for "Points of Distribution" in disaster relief.

We developed a project that provides a catalogue of urban infrastructural elements, designed for a series of regular 20 and 40 feet container shells. These containers, displaying and offering their distinctive inside life when installed on site, can be used individually or in a series of modules that become the nucleus for a new urban center to grow.

The logistic arrangement of this micro city is strictly obedient to the necessities of the social organism and local site conditions (e.g. terrain, soil, climate); the layout of a plan can be adjusted according to the actual need. The urban matrix will be programmed accordingly; temporarily or as long as it takes until a solid city structure has been consolidated. This instant city will create attraction where there is monotony, it will generate life where there has been death.

P.O.D. is developed for emergency areas, developing rural sites or any type of dysfunctional urban environment. It is designed to be applied in a condition of economic depression or lack of development; alone, clustered or spread in a system of urban acupuncture.

The application of a P.O.D. infrastructure was studied for a target site in Khao Lak, Thailand after a Tsunami hit the country in late 2004. A P.O.D. for water supply including a pumping station was placed in the Sintiopia project; a strategical use for Information and Communication Technology was explored in ICT 4 SED.

Credit

Oliver Schütte and Marije van Lidth de Jeude with Mauricio Cavallini and Henry Liu Marquez.

San Jose, Costa Rica, 2002 – 2006.