Project material
- Category
- Experimental Architecture
- Typology
- Emergency architecture
- Year
- 2005
- Area
- 25 m² (270 sq ft) per housing unit
- Program
- Housing, classrooms, health care, services, labs and ICU
- Location
- Bogotá, Colombia
- City
- Bogotá, Cundinamarca
- Status
- Portfolio
Retired buses turned into emergency architecture
Transit Architecture is an emergency architecture system we designed from public transport buses taken out of service. A single standard piece, the mask, turns each bus into a habitable unit and links it to the others.
The project began in 2005 to solve together two problems Colombia handled separately. Buses that reach their legal 20-year lifespan are scrapped whole: in Bogotá, some 8,000 had already passed it. And the country had nowhere to house disaster victims: the 2010 rainy season affected about 2.4 million people.
From each bus we keep the axles, wheels and body: a raised, self-supporting, earthquake-resistant volume. Only the engine, battery and tanks are scrapped. The front is cut off and replaced by the mask, a structure that fits most bus models, carries the towing hitch and, when opened, becomes a platform and shared space.
Furniture sets the use of each bus: family housing, classroom, kitchen and bathrooms, or medical care. Units are grouped in lines or rings to suit the site and the emergency. In 2020 we adapted the system into mobile testing labs and intensive care units for COVID-19. In 2026, the fourth edition responds to the magnitude 7.4 earthquake of August 10, centered in Chocó.
From scrap to system
The first sketch was a question: what is left of a bus once the engine is removed? A raised, enclosed volume built to move people. The work focused on the piece needed to turn it into architecture: the mask. We modeled it in SketchUp and 3ds Max, tested how it fits different bus models, drew linear, central and mixed groupings, and studied shading and façade accessories in Ecotect to adapt the units to warm and cold climates.
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The bus loses its front and mechanical parts; the mask takes their place and the furniture turns the body into housing, a classroom, services or first aid.
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Closed, the mask protects the entrance and holds the towing hitch; open, its door becomes a platform that links the buses around shared spaces.
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Hospital support units, 2020: buses are arranged in rings or lines to fit whatever lot, square or public space is available.
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Mobile lab, 2020: the bus parks where it is needed and organizes sample collection in isolated booths, with a separate entrance for medical staff.
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Fourth edition, after the 2026 earthquake: buses headed for scrap arrive as a camp beside damaged homes while reconstruction moves forward.
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