Molo Employee Tests Indoor Emergency Softshelter Made From Expandable Paper

Last month we brought you a smart new design for an <a href="http://inhabitat.com/molos-softshelters-add-the-comfort-of-home-to-disaster-relief/">indoor emergency shelter</a> by Canadian design firm <a href="http://www.molodesign.com/" target="_blank">Molo</a>, and now we're excited to say that they've completed a prototype! Molo adapted the Softshelter system from their freestanding paper room divider Softwall in response to the disasters in Japan earlier this year and now one of their own employees, David, has moved into one of them to test it out. Set up in Molo's Vancouver design workshop, David will spend the next month living in the accordion paper room emergency shelter and <a href="http://www.molodesign.com/molonews/softshelter/">reporting on his experiences.</a>

Molo's Softshelter solution consists of their expandable, accordion style paper <a href="http://inhabitat.com/carpet-samples-designers-genius-ample-sample-winners/">room dividers</a> they have been selling for many years.

The walls are made from 100% recyclable paper with magnetic door closures

Flexible by design, these walls can be used to create a myriad of shapes and rooms and are intended for indoor use only as they are most definitely not waterproof.

The idea is that <a href="http://inhabitat.com/japanese-students-build-a-pavilion-from-thousands-of-fish-to-support-tsunami-reconstruction-efforts/">post disaster</a> these flat-packed room dividers could be shipped to large disaster shelters, where they could be set up to create private rooms for families.

One of Molo's employees, David, moved into a shelter room last week to test out the prototype and see what else could be done to make the system better.

David is sleeping on the floor with a select few belongings and a light, a towel rod, binder clips and magnets, which the team had decided on providing with each <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/emergency-shelter">emergency shelter</a>.

So far, David says of the shelter, “On Tuesday I moved a selection of belongings into the workshop. It is comforting to fall asleep completely enclosed by the undulating kraft paper walls. Despite being in the large, open workshop the shelter offers a feeling of safety and isolation.”

Here Molo employees set up a mock disaster shelter setup with the Softshelter.

The concept seems completely practical and useful in large shelter situations where these private rooms would provide a sense of privacy and dignity for families.

On the other hand though, <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664708/almost-genius-molo-creates-emergency-shelters-from-pleated-paper">Co.Design</a> is reporting that these paper shelters cost $1000 bucks a pop

It seems pretty expensive for paper alone, but then again, emergency shelters aren't cheap either (although they should be!).

Maybe Molo can set up a system like <a href="http://inhabitat.com/toms-charity-water-launch-limited-edition-shoes-to-provide-clean-h2o/">Tom's shoes</a>, where those that purchase a Softwall room divider pay for the cost of an emergency shelter in case of disaster.

Until then, we'll admire the lovely accordion walls and imagine their sound proofness.