‘Folding house’ comes in handy during calamities

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna — Ever heard of a "folding house"?

It is also known by other names — "collapsible house," "portable house," and "instant prefabricated house."

To its developers, however, it is simply called "F Shelter Technology," with F standing for fast-to-build, firm, and foldaway shelter on a custom-built chassis.

Crafted by engineers of the Los Baños-based Department of Science and Technology-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI), the "F Shelter" is now ready for commercialization.

The innovative construction technology for emergency shelter, which would prove to be vital during destructive typhoons like "Milenyo," killer earthquakes, and landslides when people lose their homes, was first introduced to the local and international housing industry in 2000. Since then, it has undergone fine-tuning and improvement.

The Laguna chapter of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers (PICE), for instance, has built a utility model to showcase the F Shelter under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the FPRDI.

Signatories to the MOA were Florence Soriano, FPRDI director, and Elpidio Flores, president of the PICE-Laguna chapter.

The PICE is an organization of civil engineers engaged in the development of safe and sound infrastructure and promotion of construction technologies.

Recently, some prospective manufacturers and end-users suggested further improvements to the folding house, including reduced cost through the use of alternative indigenous materials, improved transportability, incorporation of sanitary and water supply raceways, and increased floor area to accommodate various activities in a well-defined space.

The original portable "folding house" had a floor space of 11.86 square meters (2.44 by 4.862) and was meant to be a shelter for families rendered homeless by natural disasters.

The technology has been identified as one of the DOST’s priority projects under its Technology Incubation for Commercialization program with high technology application and commercial potential.

Now, the technology is ready for commercialization, said FPRDI’s Thomas Rolan Rondero, who presented it during the National Science and Technology Week last July at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City.

The technology utilizes prefabricated components assembled in the shop, packed in rigid cases, and transported to the site.

The mobile shelter is unpacked and unfolded into a house by four workers using simple carpentry tools in less than an hour.

"When no longer needed, the shelter can be folded and packed again, hence, a foldaway shelter," FPRDI said.

It can serve as an emergency shelter, a temporary or field office, a mobile home, or ready-to-use, made-to-order structure.

At current prices, Rondero said the construction cost of the folding house is P6,500 per square meter.