More Than a Roof

The world is a power play.

A small number of people and institutions hold disproportionate control over resources, while the rest of us navigate the limits of what we can access. All we can do is make the best of what is available to us.

As climate disasters become more frequent and severe, our response remains largely unchanged. Droughts, floods, storms, and earthquakes continue to displace millions of people every year. When roads, power grids, and sanitation systems fail, entire communities become dependent on external support for their most basic needs.

Yet one of the greatest losses during a crisis is not property or possessions—it is agency.

When people lose the ability to provide for themselves, they also lose autonomy, dignity, and control over their own future. Survival becomes dependent on aid. This is becoming increasingly urgent as international assistance declines. More than half of EU member states reduced their development aid budgets in 2024, while global aid levels fell again in 2025, leaving vulnerable communities with fewer resources to rely on. This project explores how simple, accessible technologies can help restore a degree of independence during times of crisis.

Using basic, locally available materials, I've made a prototype as well as a non-specialist manual focused on two essential human needs: clean drinking water and food.

The aim is not to replace aid, but to return a measure of agency to people when they need it most.

Parts of Project:

• Prototype Support Structure
• Water Filter Prototype
• Chia seeds panel prototype
• Manual with instructions

Prototype Support Structure Fabrication

As the water filter was gravity based, it made sense to have a frame structure to support, especially for the MDEF Fest for better visibility and understanding. However since this is a project for emergency situations, the key was to make everything with recycled or locally available materials only.

After finding this wooden pallet discarded in the trash close to my house, I decided to make the structure from this.

The first step to use this was to dismantle it. Which turned out to be a bit harder than I had assumed. With a seemingly endless amount of nails both rusted and bent holding it together; I had to hammer the wooden pieces apart, and then remove each and every nail individually so that its sharp edges would not create later accidents while handling it.

It took me three days and a stiff shoulder to get it done. Worth it.

After some initial sketches on the geometry I wanted for the structure I started measuring and cutting the pieces to the required sizes.

But like every good plan, measuring these pieces made me realise how my more complex structure wouldn’t be possible with the sizes of wood I had. So to the drawing board I went again.

Finally with a simpler version in place, that could accommodate the pieces I had, along with some scrap wood pieces I had got from the wood workshop I had all my pieces ready.

To fix them together I got metal brackets; L- shaped ones for the pieces connecting the horizontal to vertical, and flat ones for the flat horizontal levels.

And finally after a bit over a week, I had my structure ready.

Got to say, there is a different sort of satisfaction you get when making something physical, especially with quite a bit of physical effort in it. Having a tangible final product feels good.

Water Filter Prototype

For the water filter prototype, I needed four boxes connected with a pipe and sealed. The first and last box had to have a faucet to control the water flow. The first box, as that step involved a fixed buffer period for the filtration to happen before it could be released to the next step.

I first made holes in each container for the input as well as output. I did this using a drill bit. Again this took some trial and error before I could perfect the right pressure without cracking the plastic container ( 2 plastic containers were collateral damage).

Box 1 had Moringa seeds as a filter source. For the input of the water and seeds I just used the container's lid to be opened/closed as and when needed. Then this water with the seed mixture had to remain as is for at least 2hrs before it was filtered of toxins. For that I had a ball valve with a connected tap, to control the flow.

This ball faucet took quite a few tries before I got it right. First I tried a hose pipe controller. However after buying and understanding the mechanism I realized the control is removing and putting back a piece, this step would however cause a leakage of the water from the connected tap when I’d have to remove it. So the next option I went with was a ball valve from an old Fablab prototype I found. The issue however remains the thickness of the pipe. The one I was using from an abandoned hose; the one with the FabLab prototype was significantly smaller in diameter. I had already made holes in the containers of the larger diameter.

But after a day of testing I realised the thicker hose pipe not only had the disadvantage of the faucet connotation but was also not very flexible, this made connecting the boxes closer to each other hard.

Hence the decision was made. Smaller flexible tubes it would be.

However the connection I’d brought to seal the pipes to the box were for the older bigger pipe. Getting new ones for each connection (10 in total) was significantly expensive. So homemade solutions it was - epoxy paste (Mseal) was my saving grace.

For the final box, which had a UV light attached to it outside, it had to have the outlet tap. Having brought a bright and shiny one, I was pretty confident about this step. Which did fix and workout great, however the weight of the stainless s\tap was quite a bit for the plastic box, so if kept on for longer started drooping down. Due to this I removed the tap when not in use.

Lesson learnt, check weight/load as well as functionality and aesthetics.

Chia seeds panel prototype

One of the simplest and most fun steps as I had done this before while testing out prototypes during the year.

Here I mixed chia seeds, with terracotta clay, and made a coaster-like panel. And watered it daily for three days for the chia to start sprouting.

Manual with Instructions

This was interesting to do as I was making this simultaneously while also making the prototype. So one night I would add the instructions, only for me to go test out and realise how I need to change it for it to work properly.

I wanted to make it as diagramatic as possible, while also adding alternative material options, so that it can be adjusted accordingly based on the person's location and their availability. Looking into these alternatives and reading about how we do the same thing in different places was fascinating.