Lantern Homes

In Nepal’s Terai valley, climate change is causing cold waves to intensify and last longer, threatening the lives of the Indigenous Tharu people. Current traditional homes, designed to manage heat and humidity, offer little protection from freezing temperatures, leaving living conditions dire during colder months. Lantern Houses is a shelter prototype that combines Tharu vernacular design with the climate-responsive strategies of North American Indigenous tipis. The result is a modular, collapsible structure that insulates in winter, ventilates in summer, and resists monsoon rains. Designed for affordability and ease of transport, the shelter can be quickly deployed to remote communities by helicopter and assembled with minimal tools. It offers a respectful, adaptive response to a growing humanitarian crisis—balancing cultural continuity with urgent environmental need.