Design outside the box

Every architect dreams of building a structure that will last forever. But Japan's Shinya Okuda, a former lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has long dreamed of designing something temporary, but environmentally friendly.

His creation, the BioShell - a lightweight but tough translucent plastic sheet for building small shelters - is something that even Mother Earth would love.

The plastic, made of polylactic acid or its composites, is waterproof and resistant to strong winds and typhoons - yet completely biodegradable. This means it can be decomposed by micro-organisms in 90 days, at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius.

Each BioShell shelter is created from bolting together several, interlocking, saddle-shaped BioShell units. Daylight is able to pass through the sheets.

The plastic sheets are only 1.5mm thick, so they are lightweight, easy to assemble, dismantle, transport and store - thus saving on energy consumption.

Each BioShell shelter - formed of three sides and a roof - measures 2.4m high, 2.8m wide and 2.8m deep and weighs only 60kg. Okuda's original geometrical BioShell design is awaiting an international patent.

'The BioShell is ideal for exhibition booths and disaster-relief shelters, both of which will need to be put together and taken away quickly,' says Okuda, 43, who was born in Osaka and teaches at the National University of Singapore. He is also a consultant with Singaporean architects, State of Architecture.