Modular PET tent
After Marius Mersinger from the Faculty of Architecture at the German Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Frankfurt UAS) won second prize in the AppliedIdea competition and many other prizes with his project “zeltHAUS”, he is now continuing on the road to success with a new team: Together with Fabian Hegner and Jonas Eiden, two intermedia designers from the Faculty of Design at Trier University of Applied Sciences, he is now receiving a scholarship from the Initiative Hessen Ideen. There they prevailed over a total of 56 applicants and were selected as one of 17 founding projects in a two-stage process.
A six-month funding programme has been running since 1 July 2020 to support the project in developing the business idea. As support, two members of the team will receive a monthly grant to enable them to devote themselves fully to the project. They also receive support from experts and personal start-up coaching. The Hessen Ideen Stipendium was funded by the Hessen Ministry of Science and Art (HMWK) together with the Hessen Ideas Competition for the period 2017 to 2020.
The “zeltHAUS” (“tent house”) combines the advantages of a tent and a house and is very versatile thanks to its features. It consists of recycled PET material and foam and can be reused. Its insulation provides protection in hot and cold climates, and its modular design means that its size can be adapted to suit individual needs. This makes the “tent house” the ideal temporary accommodation in the event of natural disasters or in refugee camps. Foamed, three-dimensional textile structures are used as building material. Sandwich-like, fully recyclable panels with an integrated folding mechanism are being used, so that the “tent house” can be constructed quickly and in a modular fashion.
“The idea for the tent house came to us through our experiences in the refugee camp in Idomeni, Greece, which we visited during a charity rallye. Most of the local people spent the night in an ordinary igloo tent and were soaked for weeks. These circumstances kept us all very busy and motivated me to find an adequate solution for the accommodation,” Mersinger explains.
