Home Away from...Well...EVERYONE...

The DH1 Disaster House is one man's solution to the problem of homelessness—only problem is that it costs and arm and a leg—and that is usually not an option if you have lost everything to one of Nature's bad moods.

Designed by Californian architect Gregg Fleishman, the DH1 comes in flatpack form and you don't even need nails to put it together. Slot the parts, made of European birch plywood, together and—voilá! instant dwelling.

The DH1's structural floor cleverly sits 30 inches off the ground (anyone rich who is still recovering from this year's Glastonbury trauma, put the DH1 on next year's shopping list), so no unsightly seepage from underneath.

There are several drawbacks, though—first, the price of $22,000 would be beyond the reach of most disaster victims. If biblical rains follow the disaster, then you're going to get wet, unless you have a canvas or plastic sheet—and a big one—to hand. Third—and don't bad things always come in threes?—a high wind may mean you wake up to find you're not in Kansas any more, Dorothy, unless you were smart and moored your DH1 four ways to a concrete block.

DH1 Disaster House, from stack of plywood to dwelling in no time flat

Why do I see this in the NEEDLESS MARKUP 2007 Christmas Catalog?