ABSTRACT
Tents, trailers, and their multiple permutations are the prime examples of “Transportable Environments” (TEs). They adhere to the concept of a shelter in a particular configuration that can be moved from one place to another with relative ease, usually when accommodations at the specified destination are unavailable or impractical. TEs have benefited greatly from technological developments in the fields of computer-aided design/computeraided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and materials research, increasing their efficiency (size, weight, durability) and adaptability. Using this same technology, it is now possible to provide the benefits of an entire manufacturing facility in a compact container, effectively integrating the core components of TEs: efficiency, adaptability, and mobility. This chapter speculates on how such a system might operate and describes some early experiments in creating a practical working model to prove the concept.
