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New modular housing design cuts emergency shelter installation time to seven days.
The Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) has unveiled South Korea’s first foldable disaster modular house capable of being fully installed within a week, offering a more liveable alternative to conventional emergency shelters. (main image: Foldable disaster modular house by KICT, ready for rapid deployment after natural disasters, featuring full-length windows and compact transportable design.)
Developed to address the growing number of people displaced by wildfires, floods and landslides, the two-module disaster modular house comes pre-equipped with a bathroom pod, kitchen pod, air-conditioning, heating, electricity, and wastewater drainage. Each module can be set up in around 90 minutes, with final connections and commissioning completed in seven days.
At 3.2 metres by 6.3 metres per module, the disaster modular house provides more than double the floor space of KICT’s previous design. The foldable structure reduces the unit’s volume to one-third of the earlier model when stored, improving transport and warehousing efficiency. Two modules can accommodate one household.
KICT said the system was designed to overcome the shortcomings of existing gymnasium shelters and container-type dwellings, which often suffer from poor ventilation, heating issues, condensation on interior walls, and a lack of adequate bathroom and kitchen facilities.
“The modular system is a key public technology for providing victims with fully functioning emergency residences fast, until they can return to their normal lives,” KICT President Park Sun-kyu said.
The development builds on the institute’s earlier work producing a foldable, Z-shaped COVID-19 testing facility in 2021, measuring 1.8 metres by 3 metres. The new disaster modular house is more than three times larger, and uses a wall-rotation system to achieve its compact folded form.
The bathroom and kitchen pods have been designed in partnership with Hyundai Livart, with a focus on ensuring comfort and functionality across all seasons. The pods are detachable, allowing for flexible maintenance or replacement.
The project is funded by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT as one of KICT’s core 2024–25 initiatives. Units will be stored in warehouses during non-emergency periods, enabling rapid deployment to affected areas.
Stored units can be transported and installed rapidly after a disaster, providing displaced residents with a fully serviced disaster modular house until permanent housing becomes available.
See: KICT
