Future Housing in a Nuclear Bunker

The paranoia stemming from war, especially nuclear, pandemics, and natural disasters is at an all-time high and rising by the day. According to commissioned polls, 22-23% of people in the UK and US feel that the world would end in their lifetime, or that they would at least see the occurrence of a doomsday level event. Among those, 60% of the people, especially in the US, feel that it would be through a nuclear war. Only a minuscule percentage among these people hope to survive such an event, and even fewer have the means for it. 

To add to that, Doomsday Homes and Bunkers are becoming an increasingly common occurrence in the States, where the inception of the paranoia can be pinpointed to the devastating 9/11 attacks. The effort, however, is largely privately concentrated, and as a result, is severely limited to only millionaires who have plenty of resources to spare a chunk of it towards securing an uncertain future. In other words, catastrophe planning for all is an overlooked reality of the world we live in, as most of us scramble for basics in the day today.  

The idea is to impart equal credence to the mitigation and to the preparation for such events, as it is to remediation, repair, and recovery in the aftermath of such events. More than that, it is time that catastrophe planning moves beyond world leaders, government officials, and the few millionaires of the planet.

The focus of the challenge would be on how such an architecture would separate itself in practice and design from conventional practices of constructing a dwelling. What would happen to the furniture and utilities? Would opulence be an option? Or is austerity the way forward for such a structure? How do you think such a space would function an entire generation into the future? Would it confine itself to a particular style of architecture? The design should be reflective of paranoia in the present while undertaking an approach that reflects future occupation.

The challenge was to design a fully functional refuge bunker in a decommissioned missile silo to house a colony of survivors, intended to serve as a shelter for its inhabitants in times of disaster or major external crisis.

The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows: 

Ludwig Godefroy, Founder and Principal, Ludwig Godefroy Architecture, Mexico

Pinar Dinc Kalayci, Professor & Dr, Studio Thinkimagine, Gazi University, Turkey

Mahmut Anlar, Partner, Geo_ID, Turkey

Tuğçe Rizeli, Partner, Geo_ID, Turkey

Some of the Best of competition projects are:

 

Winning Project: Bunkertecture

By: Ruoqi Yu

     

Description: The existing doomsday houses are more concerned with the emergency role of disaster. When I was designing, I hoped that this community could operate daily. Participants must have certain skills and not just funds. Through the rotation system, residents need to provide a certain amount of work in planting, management, and other aspects.

 

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Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/bunkertecture/info/about 

Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/bunkertecture/entries 

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