-FEMA Director David Paulison at a press conference in New Orleans with Center for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding, on Thursday, Feb 14, 2008.
SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION...
“We will not ever use trailers again.”
-FEMA Director David Paulison at a press conference in New Orleans with Center for Disease Control Director Julie Gerberding, on Thursday, Feb 14, 2008.
The MIT FEMA Trailer Project
Synopsis:
The FEMA Trailer Project is a cross-disciplinary, community-engagement, hands-on, design-build, research-oriented project with two components: 1) The course "Understanding the Problem: Research as Artistic Practice" in the MIT Visual Arts Program, and 2) The MIT FEMA Trailer Challenge, produced in collaboration with the MIT Public Service Center. The FEMA Trailer Project brings together a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students and departments across MIT to research historical, social, and design aspects of surplus FEMA Trailers and develop proposals for the eventual transformation of a surplus FEMA trailer into an alternative vehicle which critically addresses the frequency and complexity of emergencies and disasters in contemporary society. The FEMA Trailer Project will identify and work with a community partner to convert the trailer and donate the transformed trailer to a community. In collaboration with the MIT Public Service Center directed by Sally Susnowitz, the MIT FEMA Trailer Challenge will launch a competition open to the MIT community for solutions to various problems associated with FEMA Trailers--formaldehyde off-gassing, disaster surplus, psychosocial challenges, and the lack of adequate housing to replace FEMA Trailers. A surplus FEMA Trailer, donated by FEMA via the Federal Surplus and Law Enforcement Property Division, will be initially sited at 620 Putnam Avenue, former paint factory on the MIT Campus, and will serve as a temporary exhibition space as the interim Center for Art, Media, and Politics while it awaits transformation and donation.
FEMA Trailer Project Team
Jae Rhim Lee, SMVisS '06, Visiting Lecturer, MIT Visual Arts Program, Dept of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning
Ute Meta Bauer, Assoc. Professor and Director, MIT Visual Arts Program, Dept of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning
Sally Susnowitz, Assistant Dean, Student Life, and Director, MIT Public Service Center
Camilla Brinkman, Communicatins Coordinator, MIT Public Servie Center
Allison Dee UG '09, UROP, Management Sciences
Maryann Chu UG '08, UROP, Civil Engineering
Jason Rockwood G'09, Graduate Student, Comparative Media Studies
Tarick T. Walton, UG '10, Program Assistant, Civil Engineering
Priyanka Shah G'08, Teaching Assistant, DUSP/Architecture
Jegan Vincent De Paul G'09, Teaching Assistant, Visual Arts Program
**Announcement: the FEMA Trailer arrived at MIT on Wednesday, April 30, 2008. Click here for images.**
LINKS
MIT Public Service Center
MIT Department of Architecture
MIT School of Architecture and Planning
**Special thanks to:
Jim Harrington, Facilities Manager, MIT School of Architecture & Planning
Paul Guerino, State Surplus Property Coordinator,
Operational Services Division, Massachusetts State Surplus Property Office
The FEMA Trailer Project is funded in part by the MIT Visual Arts Program, the Council for the Arts at MIT, and the gift of an anonymous donor.
for more information, please contact: jrlee at mit dot edu
