Furniture can help us survive climate disasters

21-Nov-2025

Photo Courtesy of Beyond Borders Kitchen

Can tables, chairs, sofas and kitchens boost urban resilience?

As climate change accelerates, resilience has become a buzzword across industries - from the energy sector to urban planning. While we hear about specialized design for buildings - bracing them, for example, for floods or heatwaves -- we rarely hear about the evolution of chairs, tables or modular shelters in the same fight.

In vulnerable regions and among displaced communities, furniture can be more than décor - it can be survival gear.

In this article -- Part 3 in our Furniture in Times of Climate Change series -- we take a look at the work of designers pushing boundaries, crafting disaster-proof pieces, creating portable solutions for migration, and rethinking the meaning of “home.”

This emerging movement asks hard questions:

What happens when furniture needs to save lives? Can design ease the trauma of displacement? Could cities boost resilience through the objects that fill homes and streetscapes? And is “home” still a fixed place - or something you carry with you?

By way of reminder, in the lead-up to Part 3 of this series:

In Part 1, we covered how design can prioritize sustainability and adaptability; and
In Part 2, we examined global approaches to addressing environmental and climate challenges through furniture design.

Here, in Part 3, we’ll explore innovators wrestling with furniture in times of climate change.

What happens when furniture needs to save lives?

Furniture is typically associated with comfort, functionality, and decoration - rather than protection. Yet, in disaster contexts, it can serve as a lifeline, an object bridging everyday life and survival.

In South Korea, design studio Craft Combine developed a series of floating furniture pieces in response to the country's frequent flooding. These everyday items - tables, cabinets, chairs - double as buoyant devices that remain afloat in rising waters. The collection questions what furniture can do when a home itself becomes unstable.

Studio Craft Combine developed a series of floating furniture pieces.

Studio Craft Combine's stool 60ℓ’ floating on water.

Similarly, the Bliss sofa – by Mother Design – is equipped with flotation cushions, a water-level gauge, emergency flares in the armrests, and a paddle in the backrest. This studio calls attention to many communities' lack of readiness to respond to the climate crisis.

Bliss Sofa by Mother Design.

Earthquake-proof table, part of MoMA's collection, by Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno.

In 2013–2014, New York City’s Museum of Modern Art showcased an earthquake-proof table created by designers Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno. Climate change, of course, doesn’t cause earthquakes in the tectonic sense - but scientists say it might be stirring the ground in other ways.

A 2024 study links rising sea levels and stronger storms to subtle shifts in seismic activity. Combined with the increasing force of extreme weather, this adds pressure underground, potentially disrupting seismic cycles and raising the risk of earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, and soil liquefaction - especially in coastal areas. The study was conducted by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam and the University of Southern California.

These examples suggest that resilience in furniture is not just about endurance, but also about protection and foresight - preparing for the moment when stability is lost.

How can design respond to displacement?

As floods, fire, and drought force millions from their homes, furniture must adapt to a more nomadic existence - one that prioritizes what’s lightweight, portable, and easy to repair or rebuild.

At Finland’s Lahti University of Applied Sciences, a group of design students developed Rehome.

Students identified a list of urgent human needs, such as sleeping arrangements, privacy, and social interaction.

In Finland, at Lahti University of Applied Sciences, a group of design students developed Rehome - temporary furniture for displaced people made from plywood and cardboard. Low-cost, tool-free, and quickly assembled, these pieces offer practical support for those living in temporary shelters.

Another example of design responding to displacement is the Better Shelter, which brings flat-pack thinking to humanitarian contexts. These modular units can be assembled by four people in a few hours. They include solar panels for lighting, and can be dismantled and rebuilt as needed. Developed by the IKEA Foundation and the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), the Better Shelter embodies resilience: mobility, flexibility, and dignity.

The Better Shelter, developed by the IKEA Foundation and UNHCR, is designed for rapid emergency response and long-lasting displacement.

The Better Shelter aims to bring dignity and safety to millions of refugees fleeing natural disasters, armed conflict and persecution.

Better Shelter’s Wireframe of Life installation is made of materials such as bamboo, rammed earth, and scrap metal. These reflect real-life building practices in places such as Kenya, India, and Colombia.

Similarly, The Room You Carry is an installation that reimagines modular systems as portable architecture. More than furniture, it becomes a structure - a wall, a shelter, a space that moves with its user. The Room You Carry was designed by Swiss manufacturer USM and design studio Loveisenough.

‘The Room You Carry’ by Swiss manufacturer USM and design studio Loveisenough.

The installation proposes a minimal urban refuge, drawing ideas from essentialist shelters and nomadic structures.

Beyond Borders Kitchen - a mobile Kitchen by Merrett Houmøller Architects. Photos by Francis Ware via Dezeen.

Shifting to London, ’Beyond Borders Kitchen,’ is a dining setup for weekly shared meals among refugees and asylum seekers. Designed by Merrett Houmøller Architects, and run by the British Red Cross, this mobile kitchen dining space can accommodate up to 30 people. It offers a set of expandable food carts, tables and stools. When not in use, the benches and tables can be stored between the two cooking modules.

Beyond Borders Kitchen dining setup to provide weekly shared meals for refugees and asylum seekers in London.

Beyond Borders Kitchen was designed by Merrett Houmøller Architects and is run by the British Red Cross.

Each of these initiatives in furniture and shelter reflects a growing recognition that resilience is not just about surviving change, but living within it.

How can outdoor urban furniture support climate resilience?

As forces such as extreme heat and flooding reshape cities, designers and architects are exploring ways in which urban furniture can support adaptation and resilience.

Climate-resilient urban furniture developed by Nusser, a German company.

This street furniture - combining function and climate adaptation - was developed in close collaboration with landscape architects.

In Elisabethenanlage park in Stuttgart, S-shaped benches and pergolas work together with trees and hydrological elements to reduce heat and create more comfortable microclimates. This climate-resilient urban furniture - developed by Nusser, a German company - integrates shading, green infrastructure, and water systems.

In New York City, the redesign of Wagner Park by AECOM and Thomas Phifer integrates flood protection into public space.

Similarly, in New York City’s Wagner Park, terraced “living shorelines” and raised lawns act as barriers while providing accessible gathering areas. This redesign, by AECOM and Thomas Phifer, integrates flood protection into public space. “It’s a public space that serves the community,” explains AECOM’s Gonzalo Cruz, “while protecting against rising sea levels.”

These examples show how outdoor urban furniture - thoughtfully designed - can become part of a city’s adaptation strategy, combining functionality with climate resilience.

Is home still a fixed place?

In a time of movement and instability, designers are also rethinking what domestic life means.

French designer Nicolas Guillamot, founder of Design Den.

Nicolas Guillamot is exploring a mobile approach to living. This French designer, the founder of Design Den, is creating self-built furniture systems that can be carried, reassembled, and adapted to changing contexts. He envisions furniture as part of a circular, flexible way of life - a companion in motion rather than a static possession.

The TENSE collection, by Panter & Tourron, features five pieces of easily-assembled flat-pack furniture - table, chair, pendant light, wall light, and room dividers.

In its TENSE collection, Panter & Tourron echoes this idea. This Swiss firm’s lightweight furniture series is designed with minimal materials and maximum portability. Drawing on technology, fashion, and automotive engineering, Panter & Tourron creates furniture for ‘global nomads.’ “Living with less is not a choice,” they note, ”It’s a matter of survival.”

Together, these projects suggest that resilience is about both strength and lightness, emphasizing design for change rather than for permanence.

The future of climate-resilient furniture

While the field of disaster-ready and migration-conscious furniture is still in its infancy, it helps raise vital questions. How can furniture serve as infrastructure? How can it help people adapt, connect, and recover?

Resilience in furniture is not just a technical matter - it’s deeply human. It’s about protecting lives, enabling mobility, and designing with empathy for those most affected by climate change. It challenges us to think beyond stability - to create furniture that moves, floats, shelters, and resists alongside us.

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Across our 3-part series, we've explored how furniture can respond to our changing world - from climate-responsive materials and air-purifying designs to adaptable structures for migration and disaster. The common thread is resilience: a commitment to supporting both the environment and human dignity through innovative design.

We’d love to hear from you: what kind of climate-resilient or sustainable furniture would make the greatest difference in your life, region or community? What challenges do designers need to address next? Reach out to us at [email protected] with your thoughts. We’ll respond!

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