TDI is a student initiative at Harvard Design School that was set up in response to the rebuilding efforts in the South Asian coast after the tsunami in December 2004. We are not only interested in exploring shelter and housing resettlement, but also in the socio-economic mechanisms that can potentially be utilized as catalyst in the overall recovery of the affected regions. Our efforts were initiated to address the consequences of this tsunami, but the implications extend beyond a specific locale.

In March 2005, TDI won the Tsunami Challenge Competition hosted by MIT SIGUS group, and presented our ideas at USAID in Washington, D.C. We further extended the initial concepts in the Tsunami Safe(r) House, which was developed in collaboration with MIT SENSEable City Laboratory. The project is executed by Prajnopaya Foundation and Sri Bodhiraja Foundation. The first prototype of the Tsunami Safe(r) House has been completed in September 2005 in Balapitiya in Sri Lanka. TDI has also received a research grant from Harvard University Center for the Environment for a two week research trip in Sri Lanka from August 26 to September 8, 2005. The research trip included documentation of temporary and permanent reconstruction projects by different NGOs, documentation of local methods of constructions, and also interviews with the Tsunami victims.

The work of TDI has been published by Boston Globe, the most circulated newspaper in the Boston region; Harvard Gazette, the weekly university newspaper; and Harvard Magazine with an audience across the globe.

article on Boston Globe Magazine, July24, 2005

article on Harvard Gazette, May26, 2005

NEW! Prototype house photos, Sri Lanka, Sep7, 2005

link to Harvard GSD Post-Disaster Conference, November 18-19, 2005