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Rhizmo Home
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Rhizmo Home is a new concept in sustainable, affordable, portable housing. Architectural innovations mainly developed and utilized in wealthy countries are incorporated into dwellings suitable for marginalized, transient populations with limited resources. Easily assembled dwellings actively engage people in constructing and configuring their habitat. Interior design allows for choice regarding the arrangement of elements. Non-toxic, ecologically responsible building materials are respectful both the inhabitants and of the surrounding physical environment. Components are multi-use: a desk becomes a gathering place at mealtime; storage bins normally tucked under platform beds double as seating; soft shelving and storage units can be folded, snapped and used as carriers. The conviction that these architectural advances can be made available to a wide population at a low cost led Rafi Elbaz and the Lifeform team to create RhizmoHome.
RhizmoHome is a kit of parts. Parts are pre-fabricated and ready to assemble to ensure the owner's active participation as well as a minimum expenditure of cost and time. The kit may be easily assembled and disassembled, thus allowing for personalization and customization of the shelter over time according to the evolving needs of the user.
Inhabitants choose options for each dwelling, participate in construction, and configure the interior elements. Single unit shelters are currently being installed by Common Ground in New York City to meet the housing needs of homeless individuals in the Bowery area of New York City. For group living, units may be combined. Multiple unit dwellings easily adapt to diverse situations and styles, from communal bedding arrangements with more emphasis on shared areas, to individual bunking arrangements that accommodate individual needs for private space.
Composite board that will be used for the exterior walls has been adapted from materials developed for the aviation and marine industries. Soy based polyurethane resin reinforced with fibrous materials such as chicken feathers or straw is used as a skin over polypropylene foam, a recyclable material with virtually no by-products. The vacuum infusion system used for the manufacture of these boards does not discharge VOC's into the atmosphere and complies with environmental regulations. The manufacture technology is easily transferable and available fibrous materials may be substituted, thus allowing for local manufacture. These materials and processes have been developed in partnership with organic chemists and composite manufacturers. A grant from Holcim would be used among other things to support further innovations in the materials we use.
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Contact:
Lifeform
414 Broadway
4th Floor
New York, New York
10013
Phone: 212.343.1095
Fax: 212.343.2065
Email: info@lifeformis.us
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