This Startup has Designed Flat-Pack Medical Shelters to Increase Hospital Capacity in the Fight Against COVID-19

Launched late last month, Jupe is a flatpack startup that has developed rapidly deployable, mobile medical shelters for rest, recovery and intensive care in combating the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

The startup which is founded by Jeff Wilson (previously founded modular housing company Kasita) and Cameron Blizzard, is described as “ a coalition of veteran innovators across industries and professions including healthcare professionals, frontline ICU and ER doctors, architects, crisis response experts, auto designers, IOT experts, and modular building innovators.” This multidisciplinary team has developed these mobile shelters which they claim can be produced at a little over 3% of the cost of a standard hospital room, and shipped anywhere using existing logistics infrastructure.

Originally intended to house the homeless or those affected by natural disasters, these shelters have been re purposed to be a solution for healthcare facilities need to quickly expand their number of beds. The Jupe mobile shelters come in three distinct versions,

Jupe Rest

The Rest unit is equipped with beds for providing a place to rest and sleep for medical professionals working on the front lines and can also serves as a micro self-isolation room. The unit can fit a Queen or two twin XL beds and is Wi-Fi/network and IOT-ready, as well as off-grid or micro-grid capable. It also features air monitoring and noise reducing technology, Climate control, and an optional integrated filtration system.

Jupe Care

The Care unit is an off-grid solar power/battery-powered solution for non-critical COVID-19 patients. It features a donning and doffing chamber, Ventilator hookups, Toilet / sink / heat & A/C. The unit is negative pressure capable and also integrates sanitary black-water disposal as well as easy-access external pump/monitoring.

Jupe Plus

The Jupe Plus is essentially a self-contained Intensive Care Unit for those patients that require critical care, including readings for use with ventilators and specialized personal protective equipment. The company is calling it the Worlds’ First Stand-Alone Micro-Grid Capable Intensive Care Unit.

In terms of mobility, Jupe says that its solution can be flat-packed and stacked for transport of up to 24 units at a time on a 40-foot flatbed trailer, towed by a heavy-duty pickup truck. It says it can load as many as 500,000 on just one cargo container ship for overseas transport, too. They use a common base or “chassis” and readily available materials, and the company says that one person can install a single unit in just “minutes.”

The Jupe units will sell for between $14,500 and $78,000 for the Rest and Care units respectively, with different configurations affecting the cost, and the Plus ICU units will be available for $99,000 and above. The shelters can be delivered to one location and later sanitized for delivery somewhere else, as such the company is considering a leasing model, though during this period they will be offering units at cost, with no margins, including cost of delivery.

Subscribe
Subscribe to stay updated on featured projects, design news and insights across Africa.

I have read and agree to the privacy policy

THE DESIGN LIST