Our History
America was awakened to the fragility of its own existence once again when Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf States leaving thousands of residents homeless along its path. Inundated by images on the evening news of local citizens huddled together to gain shelter from the overwhelming devastation, Washington, D.C. area architect, Carib Daniel Martin, realized the relative unimportance of his current work compared to the great need felt along the Gulf. Encouraged by local builder and friend, Rob Bragan, Martin used his design skills to develop the HELP Home, an acronym that stands for Housing Every Last Person. Described by the Washington Post as “eloquent protests against the global status quo,” the HELP Home is an immediate-response emergency housing system designed to be mass produced and transported quickly to wherever the need arises. Together, along with the assistance of over forty volunteers, Martin and Bragan spent their Labor Day weekend building a full-scale prototype to demonstrate the usefulness and viability of the idea.
Now, with the prototype complete, Martin continues to work to implement HELP on a larger scale. “Housing has long been held up as a cornerstone of the American Dream but recent hurricanes have awakened the American public to its fragility. We hope to bring the dream back to those victimized by this disaster,” concluded Martin.
For more information regarding the design work of Carib Daniel Martin, view his website at: