About The Crisis The Solution How It Works Climate Impact Insights Partner with us
One world | One humanity | One shelter

A real home.
A new beginning.

Estia Homes is a rapidly deployable, all-climate shelter system that turns emergency camps into dignified communities, assembled by three people in under four hours, built to last a decade.

Residents between assembled Estia Homes in a shaded courtyard, a child plays soccer on the grass, a dog rests nearby, and neighbours gather and talk
117.8M
people forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2025
2/3
of refugees live in protracted displacement, 5+ years
20YRS
average stay in a camp, for those in protracted situations
8MO
the lifespan emergency tents are designed for, yet occupied for years
Source: UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 2025.
Aerial view of a dense refugee camp of temporary tents stretching to the horizon
Emergency tents are built for months. In practice, they become homes for decades.
The problem

Camps meant for months become cities for a generation.

Standard-issue tents are designed for warm, dry, short-term use. But global displacement is rising, camp lifecycles are lengthening, and climate extremes are intensifying. Tents fail against heat, snow, rain, and wind, and informal camps concentrate fire risk, disease, and few paths to education or work.

The result is a widening gap between what emergency shelter delivers and what displaced families actually need: safety, stability, and a foundation to rebuild.

Understand the crisis

The solution

We don't build boxes. We build homes.

Estia Homes is a canopy shelter system: a weatherproof outer shell over a panelized, insulated interior, with a ventilated cavity between them. It arrives flat packed as a prefabricated kit-of-parts and adapts to hot, cold, and wet climates alike.

01

Raised platform

Adjustable helical piers and a framed base lift the home above unstable, flood-prone ground.

02

Weatherproof shell

A pre-assembled outer skin unfolds like an umbrella and secures over the structure.

03

Panelized interior

Modular wall panels integrate plumbing, electrical, windows, and HVAC as required.

Isometric view of a single Estia Home, the weatherproof outer shell lifted above the panelized, insulated interior
One unit, up close: a weatherproof outer shell over a panelized, insulated interior.
3 peopleto assemble
< 4 hoursfrom kit to home
10 yearsguaranteed lifespan
No skilled crewsor site preparation
The home

Not a shelter to endure. A home to live in.

Panelled walls, a solid door, a covered deck to stand on. The same kit that goes up in four hours provides a place a family recognizes, immediately, as home.

An assembled Estia Home seen head-on, a parent and child on the covered front deck, with panelled walls and a solid door under a clear sky
An assembled Estia Home, head-on: walls, a solid door, and a covered deck to stand on.
How it works

Three systems. Nine steps. Under four hours.

A balance of repeated and modular components makes the system efficient to produce and responsive to any logistical or environmental need.

01 · Base

Base & platform

A raised, level floor goes down first, no excavation.

  • Helical piers
  • Platform framing
  • Platform panels & canopy base
02 · Canopy

Structural shell

The folding frame expands like an umbrella and the canopy ties in, weathertight.

  • Structural canopy deployment
  • Canopy & platform connections
  • Weatherproof canopy tie-in
03 · Interior

Interior panels

Pre-built kitchen and bathroom units slot in; interior walls complete the home.

  • Kitchen + bathroom installation
  • Interior wall
  • Move-in ready

See the full assembly sequence

Built, not rendered

A working prototype, not just a drawing.

Estia Homes is already being built. The photographs below are the assembled unit and its finished interior, real materials and real fittings, not renderings.

An Estia Homes unit assembled on a raised timber deck, with the fabric canopy tensioned overhead and anchored at the deck edge, and the panelled wall and doorway behind it
The final prototype: a raised platform, folding canopy and a weatherproof shell.
The finished interior of an Estia Home, with warm plank flooring, panelled walls and a window
A finished interior: warm plank flooring, panelled walls and a window.
A private bathroom inside an Estia Home, with a shower head and valve above a moulded shower pan, a toilet, and a vanity with a basin
An optional private bathroom with running water.
Cutaway of an Estia Home showing passive airflow through the double-skin cavity
The ventilated cavity between outer shell and interior is the engine of passive comfort.
Built for every climate

Warm in the snow. Cool in the sun.

The same double-skin architecture adapts to opposite extremes, because comfort is designed into the structure.

Hot climate

A ventilated cavity with operable vents releases trapped heat, keeping interiors cooler without mechanical cooling.

Cold & wet climate

A water-tight envelope and insulated panels cut heat loss; heat-tracing keeps water systems from freezing and thermal mass stores daytime warmth.

Explore all-climate performance

A covered market street between assembled Estia Homes, with produce stalls, planting, and residents at work, a local economy taking root
More than shelter
Within these communities, displaced people find more than shelter. They find belonging, not as aid recipients, but as empowered participants in their own recovery.

Estia Homes units link into clusters and community blocks, creating safer, more resilient, more dignified settlements where social structures survive and local economies can take root.

Why it matters

A response that reflects a nation's values.

Estia Homes give governments and NGOs a way to respond not just with urgency, but with vision, compassion, and real innovation.

Reduces aid dependency

Stable housing lets people pursue work, education, and enterprise, shifting from dependency to productivity.

Builds local economies

When communities stabilize, they organize and trade, fueling new micro-economies from the ground up.

Rapid, unskilled assembly

Deployed anywhere without specialized labor, governments can respond immediately, at scale.

Long-term cost savings

Guaranteed to last 10 years, Estia Homes cuts the recurring cost of replacing and managing degrading tents.

Eases social pressure

Safe, clean, respectful communities integrate more easily with host societies, reducing tension on both sides.

Human-centered by design

A visible commitment to dignity and humanity, emergency relief turned into genuine opportunity.

Read the full impact story

Partner with Estia Homes

A new beginning starts with a real home.

The world is watching how we respond to displacement. Estia Homes is ready to deploy dignified, durable communities, at the scale this moment demands. Let's build them together.

For governments · UN agencies · NGOs · Multilateral partners