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Instant Shelter

This project starts from the research of the nuclear radiation and its spatial consequences in Chernobyl. the study uncovered how the spread of radiation is not only dependent on the incident itself, but is also significantly shaped by weather patterns and urban context. This realization shifted the project toward a broader, more flexible response system: a mobile purification and rescue infrastructure, designed to adapt rapidly to diverse emergencies, including fires, air contamination, extreme heat, and mass casualties in dense urban zones. As a contemporary reinterpretation of the 1960s Instant City concept, Instant Shelter abandons the utopian image of festivity, transforming instant urbanism into a damage-control infrastructure. The site was chosen around the Empire State Building, one of Manhattan’s most populated and symbolic locations. The system is considered as a fleet of modular, with flying balloons that respond dynamically to emergencies, either by deploying local aid or forming temporary floating structures above crisis zones.