Shape Your Shelter
2017
The focus of this design-build studio was on homelessness as an issue prevalent across this country. There are approximately 1,185 homeless individuals living in Spokane including about 170 homeless families, most of whom are suffering from the extreme consequences of poverty. To help the homeless/refugee population, we designed an affordable, portable, flexible, pre-fabricated, and self-standing shelter that can undertake eight different configurations. The shelter can be altered to increase natural ventilation or the retention of heat depending on the season.
The goal was to design a shelter that would not only provide a safe place to accommodate the basic needs of the homeless/refugees, but also one that can function as a business incubator or a pop-up shop to give them the ability to become financially independent and help them to regain their dignity.
This reconfigurable shelter will allow homeless people to shape their shelter in a way that can serve better their needs. It can be folded and carried easily with homeless people allowing them to have their shelter anywhere they are. The shelter provides the opportunity to collect rainwater which can be used for quick hygiene. By considering this deployable shelter as an urban sculpture or a portable green installation, it could also serve the public and could be considered as a medium of interaction between society and homeless people to further raise awareness of this issue.
