By Cat DiStasio

Each year, tens of thousands of people around the world are displaced from their homes by natural disasters, war and, increasingly, the effects of climate change. When this happens, emergency-response teams are tasked with the challenge of housing these refugees in a short period of time. Designers and architects are responding to this need with shelters that are quick to ship, easily assembled by a small number of people without specialized tools and durable enough to last several years. Some of them even float, make clean drinking water and harness the power of the sun.