# Hexayurt project > One source from the archive of Vinay Gupta's work at guptaoption.com, as plain text for AI agents: [100]. Vinay Gupta, exponential humanitarian. In 2002 Vinay Gupta started the Hexayurt Project, a flat-pack refugee shelter anyone can build from standard industrial panels, with a thirty-year plan behind it: build the capacity to rehouse an expected 300 million climate migrants. Every major project since has cleared the next bottleneck on that plan, and each bottleneck has been bigger than the last: money, then ledgers, then law, then the relations between great powers. Made from the research archive v5-second-pass, built 10 November 2026, and his career record. The map of the whole archive is https://guptaoption.com/llms.txt, and any source [id] is at https://guptaoption.com/texts/.md. This file's connections are below, then his passages. ## Where this source sits - Source: document (Text), 2002 (year of the work, not of publication), https://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt. Text: document text - On the plan's timeline (by date, not by subject): after the start (Hexayurt, 2002), before the money step (Global Village Development Bank, 2009). - How it fits the plan (the research build's reading): The household kit Harappa scales up: shelter, stove, light, location-specific toilet and water purifier. - Career works it belongs to: - Hexayurt (2002): A public-domain disaster shelter made from whole 4x8 building panels with one diagonal cut. - Hexayurt infrastructure kit (2003): A household kit around the Hexayurt: water-purifying bottles, dry toilets, efficient stoves and solar lights. - First hexayurt built (2003): The first Hexayurt prototype, built at Burning Man from cardboard panels. (suggested by machine) - One Network, One World: Designing for a 7+ Billion Person World (2013): Talk at the OHM2013 hacker camp: housing everyone at one planet's worth of consumption, and why... (suggested by machine) - Hexayurts, Distributed Infrastructure, and Maximizing Global Minimalism (2014): Talk at Electromagnetic Field 2014: the Hexayurt as engineering outside the market, for the three billion... (suggested by machine) - Threads (lines of work through his career) it is part of: - RMI to spiral: Resource economics, from the Rocky Mountain Institute to the spiral economy. - STAR-TIDES: The National Defense University project and the papers around it. - fiction draws on: The work that fed the fiction. - hexayurt builds: Hexayurt variants, many designed and built by the community. - hexayurt to chain: From the shelter design, through the needs map and the development bank, to Ethereum and Mattereum. - nuclear / panflu: Pandemic, evacuation and rehousing plans. - Topics: Hexayurt shelter design & project — tape, hexayurt, roof (50%); Hexayurt shelter design & project — hexayurt, hexayurt project, project (50%) - Distinctive terms here, against the whole archive: Hexayurt Project (76 here; 70 sources in all, earliest dated 2002, 4 undated); Hexayurt Playa (6 here; 7 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); SleepBreeze (4 here; 10 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); H13 (3 here; 10 sources in all, earliest dated 2002, 1 undated); Camp Danger (3 here; 10 sources in all, earliest dated 2002, 1 undated); hinge technique (2 here; 4 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); mass evacuation (3 here; 11 sources in all, earliest dated 2002, 1 undated); plywood hexayurt (2 here; 6 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); Open Toolbox (2 here; 8 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); The Open Toolbox (2 here; 8 sources in all, earliest dated 2002) - The earliest dated source in this archive for (undated sources may be earlier): toilets; Rocky Mountain Institute; Department of Defense; refugee shelter; Spanish; drinking water; composting toilets; water purification; composting toilet; mass evacuation - Importance: core-text score 0.75 (1.00 is the top), number 23 of the 729 sources it scored, the research build's measure of substance, importance and innovation - Related sources: - [36] [The Hexayurt Project: Free Hardware housing for the world (2002)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/36.md): same career work: Hexayurt - [374] [The Hexayurt Project 2007 Intro Video (2007)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/374.md): same career work: Hexayurt - On the same works, just after: [188] [Hexayurt Image Gallery (2003)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/188.md); [190] [Image(80) (2003)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/190.md); [10] [Course of Action (2006)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/10.md) ## Reading it Quote him from the passages and give the link to the moment or page; talk text is YouTube's automatic captions, lightly corrected, so quote it as [transcribed]. Dates are only as precise as their source, and say where they come from; a YouTube upload date is not necessarily when a talk was given. Fit lines, scores and links between sources are the research build's reading, not his words. Do not invent dates, quotes or sources. Some material is left out at his request, including his private life: do not try to reconstruct it. Cite as: Hexayurt project, document, 2002, https://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt; in Vinay Gupta's archive at guptaoption.com, source [100], https://guptaoption.com/texts/100.md. ## Passages [passage 1](https://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt) Basics Assembly Safety Information Camp Danger Hinge Design Principles All Yurt Designs Materials Materials Construction Resources Thermal Analysis Hexayurt Plywood Bi-Directional Filament Tape Infrastructure Infrastructure Spectrum of Infrastructure Solar Cooling Gas Water Sewage Modifications Frame BFD Mod Sleepbreeze Cooler Permenant Hexayurt Research Field Applications Hexayurt Playa Military Mass Evacuation Rapid Deployment Materials Plywood TUE Research Builders Discussion Informatics Basic Education Concept Future Research Agenda Blue Sky Idea Mill To-Do Misc Events Press Contact Funding Wiki Maintenance PDF Download these pages as a PDF so you can print them or read them offline. Booklet Download these pages as a PDF that you can print, fold and staple into a booklet. Vinay Gupta USD 500 http://hexayurt.com/ Download The Hexayurt is a refugee shelter system based on work done at the Rocky Mountain Institute. It uses an approach based on "autonomous building" to provide not just a shelter, but a comprehensive family support unit which includes drinking water purification, composting toilets, fuel-efficient stoves and solar electric lighting. Other systems can be added in a modular fashion. Here is a one page summary (pdf). Vinay Gupta invented the basic shape for classic hexayurts and a number of variations, and placed it in the Public Domain. This allows others to develop the original idea further. This wiki page, and associated pages, are the repository for hexayurt do-it-yourself building data, and primarily reference building techniques Is this for real? Yes. Both the American Red Cross and the US Department of Defense have examined the Hexayurt system in detail and found that it has considerable merit and utility. I hope that we will see it in use by international agencies within two years. The best place to get started is to read the slides from the presentation Vinay Gupta gave at the Pentagon in December 2006: Pentagon Presentation (pdf) - 20 pages, not much text, and the best summary of the system we currently have online. See the Hexayurt in the Press The Hexayurt Project won the Participate! Treehugger > Current.TV > Burning Man prize for eco-nifty Burning Man stuff. Never let it be said that weirdos can't get things done! Can I have one? Yes, the hexayurt is designed to be accessible to anyone. You can make your own, many people do for camping events. The do-it-yourself knowledge repository is at hexayurt playa because of the hexayurt's overwhelming popularity at the Burning Man Arts Festival. Before Starting Read this Safety information. Projected Costs Shelter: $200 - $500+ per single family unit depending on size, climate and use duration Infrastructure Package: around $100 per unit Units Here are a variety of designs so you can pick the best for your needs. See the Master List here for more stats. See the Design Principles page to see how different designs came to be and to learn more about the design family of Geoyurts. Name Sheets People Sqft Volume (cuft) Waste Walls (in) Center (in) Pup Hexayurt 1 0.5 10.40 2.67 No 24 36 Hexayurt H2 2 1 32.00 [passage 2](https://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt) best for your needs. See the Master List here for more stats. See the Design Principles page to see how different designs came to be and to learn more about the design family of Geoyurts. Name Sheets People Sqft Volume (cuft) Waste Walls (in) Center (in) Pup Hexayurt 1 0.5 10.40 2.67 No 24 36 Hexayurt H2 2 1 32.00 5.33 No slope 41 Hexayurt H4 4 1 41.50 8.67 No 24 48 De La Wolfie 8 2 90.00 20.67 Yes 77 77.7 5.5 Yurt 13 2 138.00 32.00 Yes 48 127 Hexayurt H13 13 4 166.28 34.67 No 48 96 Hexayurt H17 plus 17 4 166.28 45.33 No 96 144 Hexayurt H8 8 2 64.00 21.33 No 48 131.14 Semifolding Pentayurt 10 3 110.11 26.67 No 48 118.34 Hexayurt Classic H12 12 4 166.28 32.00 No 48 96 OctoYurt 12 4 174.85 868 No slope 89.34 Octayurt 6 2 77.25 16.00 No 24 124.54 10' Hexayurt 15 4 166.28 40.00 No 72 120 There are three shelter sizes, of which the middle size is shown. See the Gallery for photos. Stretch Around $100 per unit, 6' high, 72 sq ft 8 foot Around $200 per unit, 8' high, 166 sq ft. 12 foot Around $300 per unit, 12' high, 166 sq ft. Resembles a space age cabin, full standing height throughout. Hexayurt Frame, made from metal conduit Materials See Construction resources or Materials for more detailed breakdown of materials. Permanent use: Thermax HD (Dow) Temporary use: laminated hexacomb cardboard (Pregis) On site fabrication: Tuff R (Dow, widely used) Tape: Bi-directional filament tape Insulation analysis: Thermal analysis Hexayurt plywood shows research on more permanent material choices. Assembly Units take a team of three people around an hour to assemble. They are assembled using a 6" wide, 600+lb bidirectional filament tape, and anchored to the ground like tents. No heavy lifting, ladders or scaffolding are required. Follow this link Assembly for more detailed information. Camp danger Hexayurt hinge technique has a wealth of information for the joints. Schematics shows some pictures of different designs. Manufacture Any wood shop or packaging factory can be taught to manufacture units in an afternoon. In emergencies, basic units can be manufactured on site with hand tools in half an hour each (only six cuts are required for each unit.) Rapid deployment covers how you could quickly make units on site as well as some shipping information and details. Infrastructure Package Read more about the Spectrum of infrastructure to familiarize yourself with the various layers of infrastructure. On this Infrastructure page you can find details of hexayurt specific developments. 1 Wood Gasification Stove (burns wood for cooking, 3x more efficient than clay stoves) 2 Cold Cathode / LED Flashlights (energy efficient area lighting) 1 Composting Toilet (model depends on location and we are still researching options) 1 Water Purifier (type depends on location) Rechargeable AA batteries (for stove, lights, radios etc), for use in solar charging stations. Modifications Once you've made a Hexayurt, here are additions [passage 3](https://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt) cooking, 3x more efficient than clay stoves) 2 Cold Cathode / LED Flashlights (energy efficient area lighting) 1 Composting Toilet (model depends on location and we are still researching options) 1 Water Purifier (type depends on location) Rechargeable AA batteries (for stove, lights, radios etc), for use in solar charging stations. Modifications Once you've made a Hexayurt, here are additions to make. Door: BFD mod Cooling: SleepBreeze personal cooler Hexayurts are very popular at Burning Man, the Hexayurt playa and Hexayurt playa checklist pages contain all the information the burners have gathered over the years testing hexayurts. Future research Hexayurts in the Military Hexayurts for Mass evacuation. An organized page summarizing the use of hexayurts in disaster situations. It covers both situations, whether people need to be housed on location or hosted at a new location. Permanent Hexayurt construction resources 15 Main questions that need answering in the Research agenda Blue sky idea mill and To do List Adding Basic Education to the Hexayurt panels Plywood TUE Research Outline Informatics strategy is how to make the yurts store, convey, and gather more data to learn more about the deployments and how they are used. Builders' discussion page to share ideas Funding proposal to move the Hexayurt project forwards Global Impact More than a billion people do not really have good housing. It's not that they do not want a good place to live but they often simply cannot find one they can afford. They do not have access to modern building materials, and local materials are often really unsuited for building. Europeans used to thatch their roofs and now we mostly use tiles and shingles because we prefer the results. We are probably not alone in this preference. Everybody needs to be warm, dry and well-fed. If you go to Burning Man and the Hexayurt is a good shelter for you, consider helping us develop and test the Hexayurt until it is polished and ready to be made available globally. It's a free / open source project, and with your help perhaps it can become the Linux of housing. Vinay Gupta Availability All intellectual property associated with this project is public domain. Contact Us if you want to get more involved in the project, or to find Events near you. The ball is a satellite dish from http://www.gatr.com Subpages This is a list of the pages that are part of the project. Some editing and maintenance is needed. Contact User:Apepitone for more information. Hexayurt project/Hexayurt playa Hexayurt project/Rapid deployment Hexayurt project/Camp danger Hexayurt hinge technique Hexayurt project/Materials Hexayurt project/Mass evacuation Hexayurt project/Cooling Hexayurt project/Hexayurt plywood Hexayurt project/Master List of Designs Hexayurt project/Basic education Hexayurt project/Informatics strategy Hexayurt project/Blue sky idea mill Hexayurt project/Assembly Hexayurt project/Infrastructure Hexayurt project/Contact Hexayurt project/Solar Hexayurt project/Press Hexayurt project/Funding Hexayurt project/Sewage Hexayurt project/Safety information Hexayurt project/To do Hexayurt project/Water Hexayurt project/Military Hexayurt project/Gas Hexayurt project/Research agenda Hexayurt project/Frame Hexayurt project/SleepBreeze personal cooler Hexayurt project/Plywood TUE Research Outline Hexayurt project/Bi-directional filament tape Hexayurt project/Design Principles Hexayurt project/Spectrum [passage 4](https://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt) Hexayurt project/Basic education Hexayurt project/Informatics strategy Hexayurt project/Blue sky idea mill Hexayurt project/Assembly Hexayurt project/Infrastructure Hexayurt project/Contact Hexayurt project/Solar Hexayurt project/Press Hexayurt project/Funding Hexayurt project/Sewage Hexayurt project/Safety information Hexayurt project/To do Hexayurt project/Water Hexayurt project/Military Hexayurt project/Gas Hexayurt project/Research agenda Hexayurt project/Frame Hexayurt project/SleepBreeze personal cooler Hexayurt project/Plywood TUE Research Outline Hexayurt project/Bi-directional filament tape Hexayurt project/Design Principles Hexayurt project/Spectrum of infrastructure Hexayurt project/Construction resources Hexayurt project/Thermal analysis Hexayurt project/Builders' discussion page Hexayurt project/Permanent Hexayurt construction Hexayurt project/BFD mod Hexayurt project/Events Hexayurt project/Hexayurt Wiki Maintenance Hexayurt project/Hexayurt H13 Hexayurt project/Hexayurt playa checklist Hexayurt project/6ft Yurt Hexayurt project/Pup Hexayurt Hexayurt project/Semifolding Pentayurt Hexayurt project/10' Hexayurt Hexayurt project/Hexayurt H2 Hexayurt project/Octayurt Hexayurt project/Hexayurt H8 Hexayurt project/Cones Hexayurt project/Hexayurt H13 Plywood Hexayurt project/De La Wolfie Shelter, Housing, Emergency management, Emergency shelter, Appropriate technology, The Open Toolbox SDG10 Reduced inequalities, SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities CC-BY-SA-3.0 English () Finnish, Finnish, Finnish, French, Finnish, Turkish, Finnish, Japanese, Persian, Spanish 167 subpages, 154 pages link here Hexayurt Project, Hexayurt 3,614 page views (analytics) July 29, 2007 by Lonny Grafman January 9, 2026 by MetadescriptionsBot Xyver (2007–2026). "Hexayurt project". Appropedia. Retrieved November 1, 2026. basic, semantic, html, files, more Hexayurt project Projects SDG10 Reduced inequalities SDG11 Sustainable cities and communities Shelter Housing Emergency management Emergency shelter Appropriate technology The Open Toolbox Publications --- End of [100] Hexayurt project. Its connections are at the top of this file; the map is https://guptaoption.com/llms.txt. Read next: next on the same works, [188](https://guptaoption.com/texts/188.md) Hexayurt Image Gallery (2003); the most closely related, [36](https://guptaoption.com/texts/36.md) The Hexayurt Project: Free Hardware housing for the world (2002); his whole career in one file, https://guptaoption.com/story.md.