Design for Failure

Markus Zorn
Emergency Architecture
Chalmers tekniska högskola
2026

About me

Education

BSc in Architecture: Vienna, Barcelona
MSc in Architecture: Vienna, Gothenburg, Pretoria
CAS in Intercultural Leadership: Germany/US

Professional

Medair (Swiss Humanitarian NGO):
Shelter Specialist, South Sudan (18m)
Shelter Project Manager, Turkey (3m)
Emergency Response Officer, Switzerland/Global (1y+)

Events and speaking engagements
Writing, teaching/turotoring, supervision

Fieldnotes

Medair

Impressions from the field.

The Architects' Delusions and Dilemmas

🎓 → 🏫📖🧑‍🏫

🎓 → 💊☠️🪱

Miguel, E., & Kremer, M. (2004). "Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities." Econometrica, 72(1), 159-217.

Architect

"The Future"

low carbon
renewable
vernacular
local
sustainable

Communitiy

"The Past"

poverty
cheap
weak
not "settled"

Architect

"The Enemy"

high carbon
thermally inefficient
rigid
often imported

Communitiy

"The Goal"

permanent
safety & security
asset
sustainable

Two Project Examples

Example 1: Turkey

Shelter distribution and construction for recovery phase after earthquake in Turkey (Hatay).
Prefabricated wall and roof panels, painted and sealed.
Implementation through local carpentry in a highly developed context.

Example 2: South Sudan

Research collaboration between Medair, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the University of Juba, South Sudan.
Goal: Develop a shelter kit that breaks the cycle of repeated shelter item distributions every year.
Process: Computational design at EPFL --> prototyping in Switzerland --> prototyping in South Sudan --> community distribution.