by Robin Gane-McCalla
Welcome to the new Hexayurt Project homepage. Please see our documentation links on the left for how to build a hexayurt. We've also got tons of videos on the old homepage.

The Hexayurt Family


We now have 13 hexayurt models which have been built and tested and are suitable for a variety of purposes. The shelters share a common feature: they can be made from standard industrial 4'x8' (1.2m x 2.4m) panels from materials like plastic, polyiso insulation, plywood, OSB, sandwich panels and cardboard. In disaster relief applications the hexayurt can cost less than a tent, and be constructed in far larger quantities than tent supplies allow.

Models by Razi Masri of Jumplogic. You can see lots of photographs of completed hexayurt builds too.

Community Documentation

At long last, we're beginning to get some real community documentation going. Documenting the hexayurt has always been a big job, and I'm delighted to have some new resources for builders.

Julie Danger's Camp Danger folding hexayurt videos document a really easy way of making folding hexayurts. Julie's videos are by far the easiest way to understand how to make hexayurts, and highly recommended.

Then there's the Nearodesic Tridome Report by the Space Gnomes (who have more regular identities on the report). This is an incredibly useful document, with full structural engineering calculations for the Tridome hexayurt in polyiso under Burning Man conditions. I'm absolutely delighted this research has been done, and I hope you'll download it and give it a look!

George Fisher has created a survivalist's hexayurt guide (I hope he won't mind me calling it that) which is a bridge I've wanted to see built for years. I've always thought that the hexayurt was an integral part of grass roots resilience efforts in earthquake zones and similar places, and it's good to see the system percolating across cultures.

750 hexayurts at Burning Man 2012, 500 in 2011

Every red dot on this aerial photo from 2011 is a hexayurt. There are even more in the 2012 aerial picture but it's a little cloudy!

Mouseover for a look at one of the more dense areas in full res. Thanks to Jay Springett for the count!

Hexayurt Resources


From this is black rock city (blog).

History

Vinay Gupta by Mark Charmer Hi, I'm Vinay Gupta, the inventor of the hexayurt.

Let me tell you about our project.

2012

  • Hexayurt H2 one person shelter invented by Jared Warren
  • Hexayurt H4 an ultra-simple easy to build small hexayurt invented by Gavin Harkness

2011

2010

2009

  • Vinay Gupta co-authors Defence Horizons #70 with US defence intellectuals on social/digital networks and disater relief.

2008

2007

2006

2003

2002