Project Description

INTERVAL is a 10 cubic meter architectural unit designed for flood-prone landscapes where displacement is temporary but recurring. In many flood situations, people are not permanently displaced; instead, they experience periods of uncertainty — hours or days spent waiting for water levels to recede, assistance to arrive, or movement to resume. This project addresses that overlooked condition by giving spatial form to waiting.

The project is not a shelter, a house, or a permanent structure. It is a civic waiting room that appears only when the ground becomes unreliable. Each unit occupies a fixed volume of exactly 10 m³ and contains no beds, kitchens, or private rooms. Instead, the interior is defined by continuous seating, open edges, and outward-facing orientation. These spatial decisions deliberately prevent long-term occupation while supporting collective presence, observation, and short-duration refuge.

When floodwaters are absent, the unit remains inactive. It is stored and stacked on raised ground, withdrawing from everyday life and leaving no permanent mark on the landscape. As water levels rise, the unit is deployed and floats, supported by buoyant elements integrated within the same 10 m³ volume. This 10 cubic meter Waiting Room engages primarily with the Future Resilience lens by proposing a compact, floating micro-architecture that adapts to unstable flood-prone ground, using minimal material and volume to create a repeatable, climate-responsive pause space. The architecture reappears only during moments of uncertainty, reinforcing its role as a temporal rather than permanent intervention.

Multiple units can operate simultaneously through repetition, forming a loose civic field on water. This collective condition emerges without increasing volume or scale; each unit remains identical and independent. Together, they provide recognizable points for gathering, orientation, and assistance during floods, without encouraging settlement or dependency. The structure uses simple, locally available materials such as bamboo framing, woven panels, and modular flotation. Joints are reversible, allowing the unit to be assembled, deployed, retrieved, and stored with minimal infrastructure. The design prioritizes clarity, restraint, and adaptability over comfort or enclosure.

INTERVAL does not attempt to solve flooding or replace housing. Instead, it acknowledges the temporal gap between disruption and return. By focusing on that gap, the project re-frames resilience not as permanence, but as the ability to hold uncertainty with dignity, clarity, and collective presence.