The central focus has been on creating school classrooms, but the concept of lightweight easily-deployed structures is equally applicable to other building types, such as clinics, community centers, and disaster-relief efforts.

The specific design criteria came from a non-profit foundation based in Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, whose primary purpose is to help bring educational opportunities to a remote region of islands off the west coast of Africa–the Bijagos Archipelago. The islands have a unique culture and environment, and many areas are protected as a UNESCO biosphere reserve because of the largely undisturbed and fragile ecosystem.