6 ms·

The Hexayurt Project: Free Hardware Housing for the World

67 points by rbcoffee 11y ago

Implicated 11y ago
There's a great AMA from the inventor for anyone interested - https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2dnfyn/i_am_the_inventor_of_the_hexayurt_made_for/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2dnfyn/i_am_the_inven...
Hexayurt 11y ago
Hi, I'm Vinay, the hexayurt guy, a Hacker News regular, also the release coordinator for Ethereum. You might remember me from a post I did about Ethereum recently https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9977146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9977146 I'll be around if you have any questions.
- cagenut 11y ago
  I just watched one of your youtube/talks, and you address the rural-vs-cities issue by saying half of everyone lives rural and its much harder to solve cities so its a place to start. But as the suburbs have taught us, sprawl is incredibly costly. Raising the standard of living for spread out peoples is harder because by definition its going to involve more transport energy cost and less economies of scale. Also, at an almost philosophical sense, the single-family dwelling is itself a symptom of the problem. Castle doctrine and every-man-is-an-island and all that. Shared walls mean shared lives, or more importantly, acknowledge the fact that we have shared lives and need to make the best of it. I don't think we solve this via 1-unit structures housing <10 people a pop. And history shows that hundreds-unit structures over did it. How do we create cheap, open-source 10 - 100 unit, 2 - 6 floor, structures. Something that could actually go in those slums you mention (which these yurts would get destroyed in). Anyway hope this didn't come off too critical, I really appreciate that you're even working on this problem and presenting it so clearly.
  - Hexayurt 11y ago
    Ah, you want to take a look at https://angel.co/houslets https://angel.co/houslets which is looking at multi-story stuff with much the same design philosophy as the hexayurt (use whole panels, get modern materials deployed in sensible ways, keep the building process simple and so on) but pointed at urban densities. I like this project a lot.
  - PopeOfNope 11y ago
    > Castle doctrine and every-man-is-an-island and all that. Careful. You're fighting millenia of human nature here. That typically doesn't end well.
    - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
      You think single-family homes are human nature?
- PopeOfNope 11y ago
  Why focus on housing? Housing is one thing that people will find no matter where they are. It's hard to beat corrugated steel and tents in terms of cost. The bigger issue is land. Where are you going to put these yurts, aside from burning man?
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    > It's hard to beat corrugated steel and tents in terms of cost. From TFA: > In disaster relief applications the hexayurt can cost less than a tent, and be constructed in far larger quantities than tent supplies allow.
- ilaksh 11y ago
  Reminds me of an idea I had http://runvnc.github.io/tinytenthouse/ http://runvnc.github.io/tinytenthouse/ How do you handle ventilation, heating/cooling, bathroom, fuel for cooking, etc.?
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
Hexayurt 11y ago
(and of course the hexayurt is those hexagonal pod things you see all over Burning Man - I'm sure quite a few of you have camped in them and will be camping in one again in a couple of weeks, having the time of your lives!)
bro-stick 11y ago
Neat designs; open source FTW. Would love to go to BM, but my VW would probably dance its exhaust system off 50 miles out of town because it's "too cool" for emissions standards, right before deciding it's also time to nom-nom-nom the (nonadjustible) clutch. :'(
- smoyer 11y ago
  What kind of VW is that? I've got a '71 Super Beetle and a '71 Karmen Ghia. I'd love to find an old camper to go with them (but rust here in central Pennsylvania hasn't left many locally).
  - bro-stick 11y ago
    '85 California Westy DeLuxe I got from Utah. I would go to the Westy / bus forums and look for VINs sold and maintained in dry areas or away from the coasts.
stealthf0under 11y ago
I think you're doing an epic job, keep up the good work. As for suggestions: I think that you should recognize that the entities who are most likely to be able to deploy hexayurt broadly for humanitarian reasons (air drops, etc) are established businesses, well-funded startup companies, or individuals and groups who are in some way tightly coupled to the larger business community. Although these may groups vary on a diversity of issues, they all pretty much share one thing in common: they either A. identify with what you would call a "statist" ideology or B. benefit financially from being perceived as not opposing the prevailing social norms of the local business community with regard to recognizing the state. Therefor they are very likely weary of association with any project who's leader argues for a dramatic reform of those community standards (no matter how rational those underlying arguments may be). My suggestion to you as someone who recognizes the enormous potential benefit of hexayurt technology is for you to perhaps adopt a softer approach towards corporate america and startup culture in general. Perhaps this approach could highlight the potential for corporate entities to rapidly catalyze positive externalities while generating strong network effects by leveraging a technology with an architecture that could make an impact globally via a relatively small pool of capital. To me it seems likely that the motivation for this kind of an outreach project might stem from the ability to rapidly surface a branding event by generating a humanitarian "PR wave" and then surfing it. This overall approach could serve as a mechanism for expanding global relationships, enhancing brand visibility in foreign markets, and even facilitating entre into new markets. As it currently stands any corporation contemplating research into the deployment of a hexayurt grid as a humanitarian project faces several challenges. One challenge is that they must first somehow leverage a PR firm to figure out how to rebrand the underlying technology in order to separate the positive humanitarian PR from the negative PR stemming from the fact that the project was born out of a libertarian or anarchist social milieu, burning man, etc. Another challenge is how to motivate other businesses to join in to see how far this can be developed and safeguarded all while fostering business relationships and strengthening brand identity in emerging markets. TLDR: If you feel that corporatism is a problem, then perhaps instead of trying to attack that snake with a club, you could somehow tame it into consuming it's own tail like the mythological ouroboros.
- rbcoffee 11y ago
animefan 11y ago
I don't see any discussion on that page about how this project helps house "the world" (which I assume to mean the developing world). It looks like the only places this has been used is in burning man, and there is no discussion of plans to deploy or sell them elsewhere.
- Hexayurt 11y ago
  It's been built in Haiti, Africa, Sri Lanka - test units, results positive. Getting over the hump on a deployment with refugees living in one (rather than the odd aid worker / volunteer) is taking time. There's also this: http://files.howtolivewiki.com/somalia_or_sudan.mp4 http://files.howtolivewiki.com/somalia_or_sudan.mp4 I found the video on a search, and have not discovered who made it or what the story is, but it's clearly the kind of diffusion we've always hoped for!

67 points by rbcoffee 11y ago

There's a great AMA from the inventor for anyone interested - https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2dnfyn/i_am_the_inventor_of_the_hexayurt_made_for/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2dnfyn/i_am_the_inven...

Hexayurt 11y ago

Hi, I'm Vinay, the hexayurt guy, a Hacker News regular, also the release coordinator for Ethereum. You might remember me from a post I did about Ethereum recently https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9977146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9977146 I'll be around if you have any questions.

cagenut 11y ago
I just watched one of your youtube/talks, and you address the rural-vs-cities issue by saying half of everyone lives rural and its much harder to solve cities so its a place to start. But as the suburbs have taught us, sprawl is incredibly costly. Raising the standard of living for spread out peoples is harder because by definition its going to involve more transport energy cost and less economies of scale. Also, at an almost philosophical sense, the single-family dwelling is itself a symptom of the problem. Castle doctrine and every-man-is-an-island and all that. Shared walls mean shared lives, or more importantly, acknowledge the fact that we have shared lives and need to make the best of it. I don't think we solve this via 1-unit structures housing <10 people a pop. And history shows that hundreds-unit structures over did it. How do we create cheap, open-source 10 - 100 unit, 2 - 6 floor, structures. Something that could actually go in those slums you mention (which these yurts would get destroyed in). Anyway hope this didn't come off too critical, I really appreciate that you're even working on this problem and presenting it so clearly.
- Hexayurt 11y ago
  Ah, you want to take a look at https://angel.co/houslets https://angel.co/houslets which is looking at multi-story stuff with much the same design philosophy as the hexayurt (use whole panels, get modern materials deployed in sensible ways, keep the building process simple and so on) but pointed at urban densities. I like this project a lot.
- PopeOfNope 11y ago
  > Castle doctrine and every-man-is-an-island and all that. Careful. You're fighting millenia of human nature here. That typically doesn't end well.
  - PhasmaFelis 11y ago
    You think single-family homes are human nature?
PopeOfNope 11y ago
Why focus on housing? Housing is one thing that people will find no matter where they are. It's hard to beat corrugated steel and tents in terms of cost. The bigger issue is land. Where are you going to put these yurts, aside from burning man?
- PhasmaFelis 11y ago
  > It's hard to beat corrugated steel and tents in terms of cost. From TFA: > In disaster relief applications the hexayurt can cost less than a tent, and be constructed in far larger quantities than tent supplies allow.
ilaksh 11y ago
Reminds me of an idea I had http://runvnc.github.io/tinytenthouse/ http://runvnc.github.io/tinytenthouse/ How do you handle ventilation, heating/cooling, bathroom, fuel for cooking, etc.?

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

Hexayurt 11y ago

(and of course the hexayurt is those hexagonal pod things you see all over Burning Man - I'm sure quite a few of you have camped in them and will be camping in one again in a couple of weeks, having the time of your lives!)

bro-stick 11y ago

Neat designs; open source FTW. Would love to go to BM, but my VW would probably dance its exhaust system off 50 miles out of town because it's "too cool" for emissions standards, right before deciding it's also time to nom-nom-nom the (nonadjustible) clutch. :'(

smoyer 11y ago
What kind of VW is that? I've got a '71 Super Beetle and a '71 Karmen Ghia. I'd love to find an old camper to go with them (but rust here in central Pennsylvania hasn't left many locally).
- bro-stick 11y ago
  '85 California Westy DeLuxe I got from Utah. I would go to the Westy / bus forums and look for VINs sold and maintained in dry areas or away from the coasts.

stealthf0under 11y ago

I think you're doing an epic job, keep up the good work. As for suggestions: I think that you should recognize that the entities who are most likely to be able to deploy hexayurt broadly for humanitarian reasons (air drops, etc) are established businesses, well-funded startup companies, or individuals and groups who are in some way tightly coupled to the larger business community. Although these may groups vary on a diversity of issues, they all pretty much share one thing in common: they either A. identify with what you would call a "statist" ideology or B. benefit financially from being perceived as not opposing the prevailing social norms of the local business community with regard to recognizing the state. Therefor they are very likely weary of association with any project who's leader argues for a dramatic reform of those community standards (no matter how rational those underlying arguments may be). My suggestion to you as someone who recognizes the enormous potential benefit of hexayurt technology is for you to perhaps adopt a softer approach towards corporate america and startup culture in general. Perhaps this approach could highlight the potential for corporate entities to rapidly catalyze positive externalities while generating strong network effects by leveraging a technology with an architecture that could make an impact globally via a relatively small pool of capital. To me it seems likely that the motivation for this kind of an outreach project might stem from the ability to rapidly surface a branding event by generating a humanitarian "PR wave" and then surfing it. This overall approach could serve as a mechanism for expanding global relationships, enhancing brand visibility in foreign markets, and even facilitating entre into new markets. As it currently stands any corporation contemplating research into the deployment of a hexayurt grid as a humanitarian project faces several challenges. One challenge is that they must first somehow leverage a PR firm to figure out how to rebrand the underlying technology in order to separate the positive humanitarian PR from the negative PR stemming from the fact that the project was born out of a libertarian or anarchist social milieu, burning man, etc. Another challenge is how to motivate other businesses to join in to see how far this can be developed and safeguarded all while fostering business relationships and strengthening brand identity in emerging markets. TLDR: If you feel that corporatism is a problem, then perhaps instead of trying to attack that snake with a club, you could somehow tame it into consuming it's own tail like the mythological ouroboros.

rbcoffee 11y ago

animefan 11y ago

I don't see any discussion on that page about how this project helps house "the world" (which I assume to mean the developing world). It looks like the only places this has been used is in burning man, and there is no discussion of plans to deploy or sell them elsewhere.

Hexayurt 11y ago
It's been built in Haiti, Africa, Sri Lanka - test units, results positive. Getting over the hump on a deployment with refugees living in one (rather than the odd aid worker / volunteer) is taking time. There's also this: http://files.howtolivewiki.com/somalia_or_sudan.mp4 http://files.howtolivewiki.com/somalia_or_sudan.mp4 I found the video on a search, and have not discovered who made it or what the story is, but it's clearly the kind of diffusion we've always hoped for!