Almost 2 years ago I completed my degree in civil engineering from NED University in Karachi. Right after graduating I went on to do something I had never thought I would do. I say this because, as engineers, we seem to appreciate having a lot of certainty in everything. However, I went on to do something which was surrounded by uncertainty — a startup.

It was 2016 when some close friends and I, were wrapping up everything, hoping to land a good job, or perhaps, continue studying. However, something more crucial was happening that year.

A photo of a Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, had circulated over the internet. The 3-year-old boy had drowned in the Mediterranean Sea, trying to escape the severe civil war conditions in Syria. Researching through some more videos and photos, we came to realize, that housing was a major issue for refugees; due to a large influx of people in a short span of time — these people were indefinitely left to live in adverse conditions.

This immediately reminded me of past events in Pakistan and the magnitude of the problem. From refugees to people losing their homes due to earthquakes, and flooding, Pakistan has seen a large number of displacements and is currently facing a shortage of over 10 million housing units. Moreover, a large urban population (over 45%) lives in slums or shanty towns.

However, such problems are not just limited to Syria or Pakistan; there are housing shortages all over the world. From emerging economies to some of the most developed countries, there are over 65 million people displaced around the world today, and more than 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing.

According to Maslow’s theory, shelter and safety are one of the most basic human needs without which we cannot reach our true potential. Yet, most displaced people continue to live without such necessities indefinitely and are exposed to harsh weather conditions, as well as epidemics and all sorts of social problems. Unfortunately, whatever housing solutions that exist today, are either too costly and take too much time to implement. This was why we felt the need to reinvent the way housing is done; hence the idea of ModulusTech came into being. However, it didn’t come across as simply.

When I was growing up, I was a big fan of Star Trek, which shows you how the future of the world could look like with advancements in science and technology. It had instilled a belief in me about how science would be able to solve some of our biggest problems.

Hence, I’ve always fantasized about this utopian world where homo sapiens would be able to move past their differences and be able to share resources efficiently, allowing high standards of living for everyone. This correlates quite well with a tool called the Kardashev Scale. The Kardashev scale essentially shows how far humanity can advance, based on energy and technology.

A Type 1 civilization is one that can utilize all available resources on their home planet, which would help us solve a lot of our problems. Whereas, a Type 0 civilization only extracts its energy from crude organic-based sources such as wood, coal, and oil. Hence, isn’t entirely able to solve its big problems due to the limited resources. Unfortunately, this is about where we are today. We haven’t quite made it to Type I yet.

But the idea here is; if we don’t destroy the planet, and keep bringing advancements in technology, we can reach Type 1 in the next 100 years, and possibly be able to solve some of our most pressing problems. Hence, I believed that the best way to create a lasting impact is through technological breakthroughs and innovation.

However, there was something I really struggled to understand. Why is it that, with all the advancements in technology today, how come a basic human need such as housing is still ignored? I couldn’t find a precise answer, yet I argued that we don’t need to become a Type 1 civilization before we start to address this problem.

I guess we were optimists and dreamers, who set out to try and find a ground-breaking solution, to a problem we felt was worth working on. And we had some bizarre ideas about how we could potentially revolutionize housing. Initially, our moonshot idea was to somehow make a low-cost, modular house that you could easily transport anywhere and set up within a day. Thus, allowing affected populations to be rehabilitated at the earliest and having access to necessities for daily life and well-being.

We felt that if we could make this possible within the cost bracket we identified, it would be a game changer. Right from the first day, we were all extremely passionate to take on the challenge, like our lives suddenly had a purpose to it. We had to completely rethink about how housing is done. In fact, I was so obsessed with building a successful prototype, I was solving these problems in my dreams as well.

We faced some extreme technical challenges and constraints throughout, along with a lack of resources. And after more than a year-long struggle, we finally came up with an industrialized concept for these, modular, flat-packed houses, that made it possible to set up houses, in not a day, but in as little time as 3 hours! It only took 3 people to build a house — and cost only $3,000 dollars while having a lifespan of 30 years.

Moreover, we achieved a superior flat-packed volume which made transporting these houses a lot more efficient, while having all the features you would expect in a normal house. We were also able to reduce the carbon footprint by over 50 times, which is crucial for solving a problem of this scale; without pushing global warming beyond its tipping point.