Pallethouse

Info

Old pallets often burnt because they can not be used for transportation. It is a global theme to find a follow up use for pallets.

Geschichte

Pallets are a standardized means of transportation. Worldwide they have the same size, and you can buy them everywhere. The size of pallets is optimal for different means of transportation, like railway cars, ship containers and trucks.
Old pallets often burnt because they can not be used for transportation. So it is a global theme to find a follow up use for pallets.

A follow use is to create a low cost house with a simple structure. A pallet house. You can adapt the building to the actual conditions, because you can change the footprint very easily.

To build one of the 60 m² low cost building you need 800 pallets. The price of one reconditioned pallet is about 5 euros and you can use the pallets as detachable facade element, ceiling element, wall element and as blind and sunscreen. The space between the pallets is used as the installation level for the cables and the lightning, and it is also possible to integrate beams. As you recycle 800 pallets for the basic structure and cellulose as heat isolation, the building is very ecological and sustainable. The need for other materials is reduced to a minimum.

Today every sixth person in the world lives in Slums. Therefore a very important field of application is to use the pallet house as shelter in a Slum. The low cost pallet house can be built in an easy way by everyone. Because of the flexible footprint you can use the building as emergency home, first aid station or as accommodation for families with different size.

The pallet house can also be used as temporary building for example as first aid station or emergency shelter, in a refugee camp. Only the first aid station should be lighted up, to highlight it among the others. In poor countries the transparent facade can be closed with flexible pallets for security.

Because of the different use you can change the insulation material. In a Slum in Cairo you can use sand for cooling and a cheep plastic elements instead of glass panels, and in a weekend home in Austria you need cellulose and glass panels for insulation, to become a low energy building. All the functions for living are arranged around the interior wall.

The building is very flexible in the footprint. It is possible to expand the house in many ways. There are different kinds of modules like inside, outside, entry and completion module, so that you can create the building you need. You can achieve this due to the standardized size of the pallets. The pallet has a bevel on every corner and so it is possible to integrate the connection element without cutting pallets.

Due to the isolation of the space between the pallets, you need very low energy for heating (not more than 24 kWh/m²/year). This good value can be reached with the help of a ventilation appliance, which is a heater in winter and an air conditioning in summer. The rain water gets collected on one point of the roof before being discharged in a cistern. This water is used as supply unit for the toilets. All the pipes and the light up system used for the building services are installed in the space between the pallets of the interior wall.

Because of the standard size of these prefabricated elements it is very easy to transport and handle them with or without the help of machines. Today a pallet is very popular for transport, but in future the pallet could become a popular construction element for poor and rich!!