The most important factor that endanger human life during an earthquake is the collapse of buildings. It is known that most of the crushes are the result of furniture overturning. Systems to prevent crush injury and crush syndrome during collapse can save lives. For this reason, integrating a self-rescue space into furniture designs prevents possible dangers.  

Likewise, temporary shelters for victims who become homeless after an earthquake is necessary to manage the post-earthquake crisis. In this context, the transformation of diverse street elements into shelters after the earthquake alleviate the effects of the disaster. 

In this study, the outputs of the course in Abdullah Gül University Architecture Department: Experimental Design Studio will be explained. The theme of the course for fall term of 2022 which is designing furniture that can be used as a shelter during and after an earthquake was assigned in the scope of the project carried out collaboration with Mondi Design Center. The course consists of two main parts; in the first part, students were expected to do research on the subject and to produce conceptual projects based on the determined concepts. The concepts are (1) systems integrated into office furniture, (2) systems integrated into home furniture, (3) systems integrated into transformable furniture and (4) emergency shelters. In the second stage, the students proceeded the concept projects or generated a new scenario. At the end of the project, they were asked to make a prototype model. In this context, the final projects are divided into two as shelter suggestions during the earthquake and after the earthquake.  

The daily function of each project and how it turns into a shelter will be explained with necessary visuals in the scope of the text. Moreover, all the projects will be discussed through specified design principles.