Research of Wood Plastic Composite in the Design and Application of Emergency
Houses
Minglang Yang, Xiao Huang, Peng Wu
Art and Design College
Nanchang University
Nanchang, China
e-mail: yangml1949@163.com.sharonhx@126.com.wupeng18@hotmail.com
Abstract- Under the background of frequent earthquake
disasters, taking advantage of good earthquake resistance and
other excellent characteristics of wood plastic composite
(WPC), systematically research it in the design and application
of emergency houses. Meanwhile, the appearance, function and
cultural connotation of the house are analyzed by modular
design in combination of Chinese traditional culture, to solve
the existing problems like single functional space, poor living
condition, hard recycling process, lack of recognition and
privacy, etc. It is also environment friendly, low carbon and
sustainable, and will get some practical significance.
Keywords-wood plastic composite; earthquake resistance;
emergency house; modular design
I. INTRODUCTION
Since an earthquake of magnitude 8 hit Wenchuan in
2008, more earthquakes of magnitude above 7 have taken
place in Haiti and Yushu of Qinghai province in succession.
Global seismic activities are so heavy that the earthquake
seems to have entered a peak period. During the disaster,
casualties numbered in the thousands because of housing
collapse or wall and floor collapse, and a large number of
people became homeless. In this case, new fast-assembled
emergency houses with good resistance to shock and low
cost should be developed urgently to resettle disaster victims.
Wood plastic composite (WPC) is a new eco-friendly
material with good earthquake resistance. It takes waste
plastic, waste wood, sawdust and plant fiber as its raw
materials so it both has the water resistance property of
plastic a�d the texture of wood. WPC has many advantages,
such as corrosion prevention, moisture proof, insect
resistance, high dimensional stability and so on. It can be cut,
bonded, painted, fixedly joined by nails and bolts [1], and
can replace wood, plastic, plastic steel, aluminum alloy and
other similar composites as well. Besides, it is durable with a
long service life, and has a light weight and an appearance of
natural wood texture and varieties of color types. Under the
background of global energy and resource shortages, WPC
fully meets the requirements of low-carbon economy and
society. Therefore, using such a material to build emergency
houses will receive some practical significance and broad
prospects for development.
978-1-4244-7974-0/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
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II. PROMBLEMS OF THE CURRENT EMERGENCY HOUSES
Temporary houses in disaster areas include tents,
movable assembly houses, etc. The tent is of small storage
size and low cost, easy to delivery and install, also can be
reused, but it is poor in resisting bad weather. The functional
space is single, and the living condition is poor, so it is n�t
suitable for long-term use. The movable assembly house IS
usually assembled by steel, foam and plastic. Although this
kind of houses can be assembled very fast with complete
functional space, it gets high material costs and low
utilization value after recovery, can not be reused at all, so it
needs huge investment one time and is easy to form new
construction waste after the transition period [2]. For the
residents, with time passing by, living space lack of
recognition and privacy will inevitably produce a
psychological rejection of the residents. If they live there for
a long time, it will finally lead to disputes between them [3].
III. ANALYSIS OF WPC IN THE DESIGN AND APPLlCA TION
OF EMERGENCY HOUSES
WPC emergency houses are able to be taken into
modular design and production. They are pre-produced at the
factory, and then assembled rapidly at the construction site,
which can be modularized in accordance with the basic
housing function. In addition, the houses are nice in
earthquake resistance, thermal insulation and sound
insulation, can be recycled and reused.
A. Analysis of WPC
The source of WPC raw materials is very wide, mainly
including a variety of waste plastics in industry and life, and
low-quality wood or straws. They are made into particles,
and then produce WPC by extrusion.
When connecting WPC components, the tenon-and­
mortises, and the bolt-and-screws can be both adopted. And
the same type of WPC profile can be used as columns,
beams and floor slots of the emergency house, which will
achieve modular assembly and can save materials.
After WPC profiles are recycled, they can be put into use
again in two ways. One is changing the color, grain and
shape by re-filming or re-stamping, and the other is
producing new profiles by crushing the old ones into
particles, and then going through the extrusion, which can
ensure zero wastes.
 As the production technology of WPC is limited, the
material has some limitations as well, which includes few
surface profiles, hard production process and high
manufacturing costs. Based on such negative factors, the
shape of WPC pieces must contain certain regularity, can not
achieve streamline or other complex surface modeling as
plastics.
B. Design of the WPC Emergency House

Figure 3. The layout plans of emergency houses

2) Analysis of Interior Function Design: A standard

single room module covers an area of 18 square meters.
Three such modules make up a set of basic emergency
house, with the bedroom, bathroom, shower room, kitchen,
living room and other basic functional spaces, as shown in
Figure I. Design of the WPC emergency house Fig. 4. These spaces are furnished with bunk beds, desks
and chairs, storage cabinets, kitchen cupboards, sanitary
1) Analysis of Exterior Appearance Design: The whole ware and so on, which have been processed into standard
emergency house is almost constructed by WPC, and the modules before put in.
structure is considered to satisfy the needs of ventilation and
lighting, water resistance and heat insulation, rain proofing
and damp proofing. A WPC emergency house consists of
three standard single room modules, as shown in Fig. 2
below. Both ends are living rooms, and the center is the
shared kitchen and bathroom. The three are connected by
WPC aisles. The single room is looked like a trapezoid with
the size of 4.5 meters long and 4 meters wide. The sloping
roof is to the advantage of drainage, the highest point of
living room kitchen and bathroom living room
which is 2.8 meters in height and the lowest is 2.6 meters in
height. The emergency house can accommodate two Figure 4. The planning of a basic emergency house

families, at least 8 people, up to 12, available to adjust with

the situation. Doors are assembled at both sides of the house,
so the two families can get in and out individually. The
overall space and the function ensure long-term living and
activities for human.
In the living room, one side is for rest and the other is for
living and working. There are bunk beds, desks and chairs,
wardrobes, bookshelves and large storage space, satisfying
the needs of work, study, leisure and daily lives of the
residents, as shown in Fig. 5 below.

Figure 2. Standard room modules of a WPC emergency house

When planning emergency houses, row conjunction
layout is decided to be adopted, and the line spacing is not
less than 4 meters [4] as the fire protection request, as shown
in Fig. 3. Windows of the houses between the conjunction
row open in the relative direction, thus the lighting will not
be affected and water will be gathered to the drainage system
in the middle between.
Figure 5. Interior design of the living room
Walk through the aisle, then entering the kitchen and
bathroom. The bathroom is in the comer, with an area of
about 2.25 square meters, containing washing, showers,
toilets and other sanitary equipments, as shown in Fig.6. A
high-strength toilet box is laid under the floor, used before
the repairs of the urban water supply and sewage system

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completed. After then, the toilet outfall can be directly
connected with the system [2].
Figure 6. Interior design of the bathroon
Kitchen and dinning room are integrated into a wide open
style dining space, including a set of whole cupboard and
two dining tables and chairs for two families sharing, as
shown in Fig. 7 below.
Figure 7. Interior design of the dining space
Each access of the aisles is equipped with a door, which
is convenient to protect the privacy and interference from
each other.
The kitchen and bathroom is also a hub for the water and
electric circuit of the whole house. Each living room has got
a port attached to it through the aisle, and each kitchen and
bathroom has got ports attached to the water and electricity
supply directly or to each other indirectly, and a port to the
outdoor drainage system as well. When planning an area of
emergency houses, the external will unified the water and
electricity supply and centralized sewage and waste disposal.
3) Analysis of Cultural Cconnotation Design: Chinese
have been favoring wood structure buildings since ancient
times, because they have an inherent sense of intimacy to
wood, finally forming a kind of architectural tradition and
humanistic spirit through a long history. The relaxation,
liveliness, lightweight and commodiousness of wood are
adapted to Chinese people's attitude for pursuing natural
and harmonious life [5]. As WPC gets the characteristics of
wood, when used to construct emergency houses, it will
continue China's traditional culture, meet the requirements
of people's spiritual concepts and aesthetics, make it easy
for residents to accept in a short time after the disaster, and
give people a certain sense of belonging and spiritual
comfort.
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Meanwhile, because there is a strong kinship basis
existing in the traditional social structure in China, roles that
families, relatives and neighbors play in the life of residents
should be taken into account in the design of WPC
emergency houses, Then some adjustments and treatments of
the houses can be made flexibly in accordance with some
certain requirements [3], which is very variable and practical.
C. Recycling and Application Process of the WPC
Emergency House
After WPC profiles are produced in the workshop, they
have to be sent to the construction site to assemble. When the
WPC emergency house is in need of moves, it can be
disassembled or move as a whole. When it is in need of
renovation or replacement of some parts, it can be exchanged
with corresponding profiles in the factory. When the house is
scrapped, the profiles can be used for the assembly of other
houses, or crushed and recycled for re-production.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
China is a country prone to natural disasters, so it is
particularly important for post-disaster emergency placement.
WPC emergency houses can quickly and properly resettle
the victims with good shockproof performance, and are
environment friendly, low carbon and sustainable, which will
bring certain economical and social significance. It is very
necessary to do research about design and application of
them, which should be paid attention to. As a pilot design
program of WPC emergency houses, the design mentioned
above needs to be further explored and deepened and
continuously improved. The modular design method applied
in this program provides favorable conditions for the
production, transportation, assembly, reserves, recovery and
reuse of the emergency house. And the applications of WPC
will be expanded by further improvement of the profiles and
connecting structures, in order to achieve vigorous
promotion and use.
REFERENCES
(I] Zhao Jun, "The developing Situation of Wood Plastic Composites,"
Guangdong Plastics, No. II, 2004, pp. 13-16.
[2] Yu Hui and Liu Ming, "Exploration of modularization and
sustainable design of temporary housing for disaster succor and
repertory," Journal of Dalian University of Technology, vol. 49, No.
5, Sept. 2009, pp. 714-717.
[3] Zhang Bo, Wang Fang, Zhao Ying and Geng Hong, "A Probe into the
Transitional Allocation Plan after the Earthquake��An Case Study
on the Allocation Plan of Daguan Town," New Architecture, No. 6,
2008, pp. 69-71.
[4] SONG Xiao-yong, "Discussion on fire safety of makeshift sites after
earthquake in Wenchuan," Fire Science and Technology, vol. 27, No.
7, July 2008, pp. 538-541.
[5] Jia Hongbo, "on the Reasons of Ancient China s Timber Structure
Buildings and Its Relations with Human-centered Thinking in
Traditional China s Culture," Nankai Journal (philosophy, Literature
and Social Science Edition), No. 2, 2009, pp. 109-117. .