The Resilient Public Housing Catalog proposes a framework for how to rehouse low-income and working-class citizens of Myanmar after, in the event of, and in anticipation of natural disasters such as earthquakes. Building on public investments, proactive community agency, and high-level material circularity, the project aims to integrate local, vernacular knowledge and practices to address seismic, climatic, material, and social realities. At its core is a scalable and generative public housing catalog that leverages public assets and volunteer labor to implement a dual-scale circular process of resource recovery and participation. After and during a crisis, the government provides citizens with standardized emergency housing kits consisting of bamboo and timber connectors for rapid assembly without specialized tools. Simultaneously, the public housing authority starts building permanent high-density housing structures. Conceived as flexible, open frameworks, these public structures can later accommodate the disassembled components of the emergency shelters, giving each family space and material to start their own permanent home and allowing them to flexibly grow and adapt to their needs.
