Cheap, effective shelter for disaster relief
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0:02 - 0:06So, I'm going to start off with kind of the buzzkill a little bit.
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0:06 - 0:08Forty-two million people
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0:08 - 0:11were displaced by natural disasters in 2010.
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0:11 - 0:14Now, there was nothing particularly special about 2010,
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0:14 - 0:17because, on average, 31 and a half million people
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0:17 - 0:20are displaced by natural disasters every single year.
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0:20 - 0:23Now, usually when people hear statistics or stats like that,
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0:23 - 0:26you start thinking about places like Haiti or other kind of
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0:26 - 0:29exotic or maybe even impoverished areas, but it happens
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0:29 - 0:32right here in the United States every single year.
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0:32 - 0:35Last year alone, 99 federally declared disasters
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0:35 - 0:37were on file with FEMA,
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0:37 - 0:41from Joplin, Missouri, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama,
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0:41 - 0:45to the Central Texas wildfires that just happened recently.
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0:45 - 0:47Now, how does the most powerful country in the world
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0:47 - 0:49handle these displaced people?
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0:49 - 0:52They cram them onto cots, put all your personal belongings
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0:52 - 0:54in a plastic garbage bag, stick it underneath,
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0:54 - 0:57and put you on the floor of an entire sports arena,
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0:57 - 1:00or a gymnasium.
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1:00 - 1:03So obviously there's a massive housing gap,
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1:03 - 1:06and this really upset me, because academia tells you
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1:06 - 1:08after a major disaster, there's typically about
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1:08 - 1:12an 18-month time frame to -- we kinda recover,
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1:12 - 1:13start the recovery process,
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1:13 - 1:16but what most people don't realize is that on average
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1:16 - 1:19it takes 45 to 60 days or more
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1:19 - 1:22for the infamous FEMA trailers to even begin to show up.
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1:22 - 1:25Before that time, people are left to their own devices.
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1:25 - 1:29So I became obsessed with trying to figure out a way
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1:29 - 1:31to actually fill this gap.
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1:31 - 1:33This actually became my creative obsession.
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1:33 - 1:36I put aside all my freelance work after hours and started
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1:36 - 1:42just focusing particularly on this problem.
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1:42 - 1:43So I started sketching.
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1:43 - 1:45Two days after Katrina, I started sketching and sketching
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1:45 - 1:47and trying to brainstorm up ideas or solutions for this,
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1:47 - 1:50and as things started to congeal or ideas started to form,
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1:50 - 1:52I started sketching digitally on the computer,
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1:52 - 1:56but it was an obsession, so I couldn't just stop there.
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1:56 - 1:58I started experimenting, making models,
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1:58 - 2:01talking to experts in the field, taking their feedback,
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2:01 - 2:04and refining, and I kept on refining and refining
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2:04 - 2:07for nights and weekends for over five years.
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2:07 - 2:10Now, my obsession ended up driving me to create
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2:10 - 2:13full-size prototypes in my own backyard — (Laughter) —
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2:13 - 2:15and actually spending my own personal savings on
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2:15 - 2:17everything from tooling to patents
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2:17 - 2:20and a variety of other costs,
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2:20 - 2:23but in the end I ended up with this modular housing system
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2:23 - 2:25that can react to any situation or disaster.
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2:25 - 2:28It can be put up in any environment,
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2:28 - 2:32from an asphalt parking lot to pastures or fields,
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2:32 - 2:34because it doesn't require any special setup
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2:34 - 2:37or specialty tools.
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2:37 - 2:38Now, at the foundation and kind of the core
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2:38 - 2:41of this whole system is the Exo Housing Unit,
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2:41 - 2:44which is just the individual shelter module.
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2:44 - 2:45And though it's light, light enough that you can actually
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2:45 - 2:48lift it by hand and move it around,
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2:48 - 2:51and it actually sleeps four people.
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2:51 - 2:54And you can arrange these things as kind of more
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2:54 - 2:57for encampments and more of a city grid type layout,
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2:57 - 2:59or you can circle the wagons, essentially,
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2:59 - 3:01and form these circular pods out of them,
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3:01 - 3:03which give you this semi-private communal area
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3:03 - 3:06for people to actually spill out into so they're not actually
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3:06 - 3:08trapped inside these units.
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3:08 - 3:10Now this fundamentally changes
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3:10 - 3:12the way we respond to disasters,
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3:12 - 3:14because gone are the horrid conditions
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3:14 - 3:17inside a sports arena or a gymnasium, where people
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3:17 - 3:19are crammed on these cots inside.
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3:19 - 3:25Now we have instant neighborhoods outside.
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3:25 - 3:28So the Exo is designed to be simply, basically
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3:28 - 3:30like a coffee cup. They can actually stack together
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3:30 - 3:33so we get extremely efficient transportation
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3:33 - 3:35and storage out of them.
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3:35 - 3:40In fact, 15 Exos can fit on a single semi truck by itself.
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3:40 - 3:43This means the Exo can actually be transported and set up
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3:43 - 3:48faster than any other housing option available today.
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3:48 - 3:50But I'm obsessive, so I couldn't just stop there,
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3:50 - 3:52so I actually started modifying the bunks where you could
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3:52 - 3:54actually slide out the bunks and slide in desks or shelving,
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3:54 - 3:56so the same unit can now be used
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3:56 - 3:59for an office or storage location.
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3:59 - 4:03The doors can actually swap out, so you can actually put on
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4:03 - 4:05a rigid panel with a window unit in it for climate control,
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4:05 - 4:08or a connector module that would allow you to actually
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4:08 - 4:10connect multiple units together, which gives you
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4:10 - 4:14larger and kind of compartmentalized living spaces,
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4:14 - 4:16so now this same kit of parts, this same unit
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4:16 - 4:21can actually serve as a living room, bedroom or bathroom,
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4:21 - 4:27or an office, a living space and secure storage.
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4:27 - 4:30Sounds like a great idea, but how do you make it real?
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4:30 - 4:32So the first idea I had, initially, was just
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4:32 - 4:34to go the federal and state governments and go,
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4:34 - 4:37"Here, take it, for free."
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4:37 - 4:39But I was quickly told that, "Boy, our government
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4:39 - 4:41doesn't really work like that." (Laughter)
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4:41 - 4:45Okay. Okay. So maybe I would start a nonprofit
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4:45 - 4:48to kind of help consult and get this idea going
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4:48 - 4:50along with the government, but then I was told,
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4:50 - 4:52"Son, our government looks to private sector
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4:52 - 4:54for things like this."
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4:54 - 4:57Okay. So maybe I would take this whole idea and go
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4:57 - 4:59to private corporations that would have this mutually shared
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4:59 - 5:02benefit to it, but I was quickly told by some corporations
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5:02 - 5:06that my personal passion project was not a brand fit
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5:06 - 5:09because they didn't want their logos stamped
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5:09 - 5:11across the ghettos of Haiti.
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5:11 - 5:17Now, I wasn't just obsessed. I was outraged. (Laughter.)
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5:17 - 5:22So I decided, kind of told myself,
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5:22 - 5:28"Oh yeah? Watch this. I'll do it myself." (Laughter)
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5:28 - 5:30Now, this quickly, my day job sent me to work out of
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5:30 - 5:33our Milan office for a few months, so I was like,
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5:33 - 5:36what will I do? So I actually scheduled sleep on my calendar,
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5:36 - 5:39and spent the 8-hour time difference on conference calls
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5:39 - 5:43with material suppliers, manufacturers and potential customers.
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5:43 - 5:44And we found through this whole process, we found
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5:44 - 5:47this great little manufacturer in Virginia,
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5:47 - 5:49and if his body language is any indication,
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5:49 - 5:51that's the owner — (Laughter) — of what it's like
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5:51 - 5:53for a manufacturer to work directly with a designer,
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5:53 - 5:56you've got to see what happens here. (Laughter)
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5:56 - 5:59But G.S. Industries was fantastic.
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5:59 - 6:03They actually built three prototypes for us by hand.
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6:03 - 6:06So now we have prototypes that can show that four people
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6:06 - 6:09can actually sleep securely and much more comfortably
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6:09 - 6:13than a tent could ever provide.
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6:13 - 6:15And they actually shipped them here to Texas for us.
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6:15 - 6:16Now, a funny thing started happening.
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6:16 - 6:19Other people started to believe in what we were doing,
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6:19 - 6:21and actually offered us hangar space, donated hangar
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6:21 - 6:23space to us. And then the Georgetown Airport Authority
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6:23 - 6:27was bent over backwards to help us with anything we needed.
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6:27 - 6:29So now we had a hangar space to work in,
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6:29 - 6:32and prototypes to demo with.
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6:32 - 6:35So in one year, we've negotiated manufacturing agreements,
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6:35 - 6:38been awarded one patent, filed our second patent,
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6:38 - 6:41talked to multiple people, demoed this to FEMA
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6:41 - 6:43and its consultants to rave reviews,
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6:43 - 6:45and then started talking to some other people who requested
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6:45 - 6:48information, this little group called the United Nations.
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6:48 - 6:50And on top of that, now we have
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6:50 - 6:52a whole plethora of other individuals that have come up
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6:52 - 6:56and started to talk to us from doing it for mining camps,
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6:56 - 6:58mobile youth hostels, right down to the World Cup
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6:58 - 7:01and the Olympics.
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7:01 - 7:08So, in closing, on this whole thing here
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7:08 - 7:13is hopefully very soon we will not have to
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7:13 - 7:15respond to these painful phone calls that we get
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7:15 - 7:17after disasters where we don't really have anything
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7:17 - 7:19to sell or give you yet.
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7:19 - 7:21Hopefully very soon we will be there,
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7:21 - 7:24because we are destined,
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7:24 - 7:28obsessed with making it real.
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7:28 - 7:30Thank you. (Applause)
- Title:
- Cheap, effective shelter for disaster relief
- Speaker:
- Michael McDaniel
- Description:
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Michael McDaniel designed housing for disaster relief zones -- inexpensive, easy to transport, even beautiful – but found that no one was willing to build it. Persistent and obsessed, he decided to go it alone. At TEDxAustin, McDaniel show us his Exo Reaction Housing Solution and shares how he's dedicating his free time to working with suppliers and manufacturers to prepare for the next natural disaster. (Filmed at TEDxAustin.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 07:50
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Cheap, effective shelter for disaster relief | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Cheap, effective shelter for disaster relief | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Cheap, effective shelter for disaster relief | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Cheap, effective shelter for disaster relief |