According to incomplete statistics, about 5 million people in the world are homeless, wandering on the streets, and homelessness is a global problem. The homeless in our cities are an invisible being, they ask for very little from the city, they know very little about it, they sleep on the floor, as long as one side of the eaves sheltered from the wind and rain.
The attitude towards marginalized people can reflect the true quality of a city. A tolerant and warm city, with its buildings and public places, it is necessary to solve the problem of simple sleep for the homeless.
01
Padre Rubinos social charity
Affectionately embrace people who need warmth
A century ago, the Padre Rubinos social charity sheltering the socially suffering was born in A Coruña and, after continuous development, now even contains the functions of a kindergarten and a nursing home. For the agency's new headquarters, Elsa Urquijo Arquitectos believes that it should come from quiet, beyond the mundane, with a space of tranquility, understatement and humility. To this end, they use horizontal lines to dominate the architectural shape and spatial sequence, create a peaceful and relaxing space, and embrace the people who need help and warmth with a humane and humble attitude.
▲ Padre Rubinos social charity
The synthetic square portico defines the open entrance to the city. The patios are interspersed in a complex of buildings that are flattened and adapt to changes in topography, defining different spaces inside and out, bringing light and uninterrupted outdoor views.
The Homeless Shelter is divided into three areas: Accommodation, Catering, and The Centre for Sustainable Training and Development, all three of which are placed on the first floor, in addition to temporary rooms for the homeless, arranged on the second floor. Access to the homeless shelter passes through an open colonnade space that feels human and sheltered.
The charity also houses chapels and auditoriums, with their bell towers towering over the entrance area as a sign.
02
Bud Clark
Open entrances for different groups of people
Bud Clark is a mixed-use project that provides services to the urban homeless, and the project is seen by the people on this street as a place of hope, respect, and positive change. In the six months since its opening alone, more than 300 people have lived here for a long time or permanently. Mayer/Reed expects the project to inspire other cities to launch similar programs and services for the homeless.
▲ Bud Clark
An 8-story, 106,000-foot building provides them with 130 units of apartments, while providing 90 temporary care beds for male homeless people who are extremely physically unhealthy and mentally unstable. Finally, daily resources (showers, telephones) and training services (coaching for alcoholism, training in professional skills) are arranged here.
Within this mixed-use project, there is a public courtyard that connects the entrance and the building. This courtyard is designed to serve a wide variety of people, coordinate with the surrounding Old Town, and maintain good accessibility with the surrounding light rail stations, bus stops and other transportation stations. Many homeless people have difficulty asking for help, so designers want to design a symbolic entrance that attracts these people. This entrance should make them feel welcome, safe, dignified, trusted, and calm.
03
Hope on Alvarado
Safe and economical modular housing
Designed by KTGY Architects, Hope on Alvarado is the first modular housing project in the Hope On development series to find housing solutions for long-term homeless people in Los Angeles.
▲ Hope on Alvarado
With a basic design and fast installation time, these modules can be manufactured on site, then transported by truck to the event site, where they are stacked in a single building.
Constructed over five floors, the project offers a total of 84 open plan apartments and one bedroom apartments. Each apartment consists of several modules that have been modified specifically for the project. Designed to LEED standards, the project surrounds a central courtyard that meets the needs of privacy, security, and a sense of community.
04
Almshouse building
Home from home atmosphere created
The lot of the Almshouse building is located on the heavily trafficked Hradeckega Road next to Golovec Hill. The new building sits on the edge of the course, with its retaining walls and terraces leaning against the hillside. The façade is designed by a squared sum evenly distributed with light and dark ceramics, with railings extending into the street along with the entrance canopy on the first floor.
▲ Almshouse building
Architect Dans Arhitekti wanted to convey a sense of safety and security in the architecture, with familiar materials, warm tones and comprehensible forms. The house is designed to provide an atmosphere and serve as a backdrop for living and connecting with the surroundings and nature.
The layout of the building is almost square, with a core barrel. A staircase winds around the central core in public areas connected on various floors. The first floor is reserved for management and training, and there are rooms on the first and second floors. The hotel rooms and bathrooms are fitted as standard for disabled guests.
The path of the staircase surrounds the core and opens different angles with different lights. Elevators and service rooms are located in the heart of the building, while more important places such as rooms for residents are arranged in the perimeter.
All rooms have large, full-length picture windows. To ensure a sense of security and intimacy, floor-to-ceiling windows are printed with a traditional decorative glass fence. Its shape and material are reminiscent of traditional country wood stoves.
05
Jankowice Shelter
A home for the healed wanderer
The Jankowice Shelter is an unusual building designed for the homeless who live in poverty and have no place in the care system, who are too healthy to live in social welfare homes and too "unhealthy" to use their dormitories.
▲ Jankowice Shelter
The Sister Chmielewska decided to build a "home" for them: a large single-storey building with a wavy roof that blended in with the surrounding fields and hills. The building is tucked away behind old trees around the former school playground and cannot be seen on the road. And all the interior windows have a beautiful idyllic view.
The building is divided into three main areas by a brick wall. In the entrance area, there is a common area including: chapel, office, rehabilitation room, common room and canteen. There are 19 rooms with studios and bathrooms that can be used by people of different disability levels. Finally, three small apartments with kitchens were prepared for volunteers and caregivers who cared for the homeless.
Jankowice is a small village far from the city. We try to design a private, their space for caregivers, temporarily cut off from the reality around them. Double room with shared bathroom, small room for sleeping only, is intended to encourage occupants to leave during the day and promote their re-socialization.
The building is barrier-free for people with disabilities. It is designed to be ecological, self-sufficient and inexpensive to operate.
06
Hex House
Sustainable, low-cost shelter units
Behind the disaster, there will always be a problem that has not received enough attention: how to resettle homeless survivors. The current temporary refugee shelter is housed using the remaining large buildings. Until reconstruction is complete, displaced persons often live in uncomfortable, unhygienic and even inhumane conditions for a long time.
▲ Hex House
In 2016, the AFS Architects for Society launched the Hex House project. This is a long-term, dignified, and urban-planning, temporary housing solution they provide for the affected population.
AFS is a global, non-profit design firm with a group of architects from the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East who want to improve the built environment in disadvantaged communities through innovative architecture and design. Hex House is conceived as a sustainable, rapidly deployable, low-cost shelter unit that must allow a home without a professional foundation to assemble on its own.
Its foundation is a residential unit. The detached unit measuring 40m2 is a compact two bedroom unit with all facilities for a small family. According to the needs of the family, the space inside the unit can be individually arranged. Each corner is maximized, and people can shuttle to other spaces through the central circle area.
07
Dignity Museum
Listen to the stories of the wanderers
The Dignity Museum is the first container museum in the United States dedicated to addressing homelessness. Many people think that homelessness is just a localization problem, related to a small number of people hanging out in the metropolis, but it is actually a more serious problem than people know.
▲ Dignity Museum
It is an unconventional museum that is housed inside a refurbished container. The idea behind this is to take away a metaphorical message: every cargo has a story and is short-lived, and every container has value and something of value.
Museum founder Terence Lester wanted our audience to take off their tinted glasses and actually see life from the perspective of the people they might meet. He even created a space for the homeless to process the signs they wrote if they wanted to beg for money to wash their clothes, or to raise money for drugs.
08
Hanging pod hut
Warm little nest on the outer wall of the city
James Furzer, a designer from London, England, has designed pod huts for the city's homeless, which are made of plywood and steel skeletons that will be hung above the pedestrians' heads on the city's "host" buildings.
▲ Hanging pod hut
These temporary shelters can provide a shelter for homeless people to rest briefly or overnight at night or during the day, providing a shelter from the wind and rain.
Attached to a "host" building in the city, the cottage hangs above the heads of pedestrians and is accessed via a ladder. The interior consists of a mattress-filled bed and a small living space, with walls insulated, and future designers have ideas to add solar panels to them to power them.
A city should embrace all soft bodies and hearts that desire warmth. Architectural design should also serve all people in society, these careful and warm designs, not only for the user to give respect and shelter, but also to the city to bring the power of warm hearts, and the driving force of sustainable development of the city.