SP07US. VARIOUS SITES.
streetURCHIN | AN URBAN TENT FOR THE HOMELESS
This project started with an invitation for the IDC to exhibit work in the Pass It On: Connecting Contemporary Do-It-Yourself Culture exhibition hosted by the A+D Gallery in Chicago. In response, the IDC decided that rather than produce a presentation to proclaim the greatness of our work, we would create an exhibition that would challenge others to do work for great things. To be more specific, the IDC asked our team of student-members to design and construct an urban tent for Chicago’s homeless that was safer, drier, warmer and more portable than the cardboard tenements currently deployed using only discarded materials and simple methods of construction.
Although programmatically simple, the distinct client, strict budget ($0) and tight timetable (five weeks) challenged the students to create a method of working that would allow them to move seamlessly between acts of design and construction. Through hands-on research and playful acts of experimentation, the students worked to uncover, test and evolve promising solutions. The eventual product of these efforts, affectionately called Street Urchin by its designers, uses simple, repetitive techniques to produce a completely watertight and easily transported shelter from nothing more than discarded plastic shopping bags, rubber bands, and used water bottles.
So as to disseminate their findings to a wider audience and encourage others to build upon their work, the students created a small, pocket-sized manual that uses simple graphics and photos to describe their twelve-step construction process. The team then sent hundreds of these booklets to the A+D Gallery of Chicago as well as a local art gallery, where patrons to these venues were invited to take a copy and enter into the issues faced by the homeless. Additional copies of this manual were also given to the local homeless population and the agencies designed to serve them. In this way, the work of the IDC not only empowered the homeless to construct more adequate housing, but empowered local citizens to become involved in finding a more permanent solution.
NOTE: Since its completion, the Urchin has been featured in other exhibitions, symposia, and publications, including a recent article in Interior Design magazine that paired the Urchin with work by Kengo Kuma & Associates, OMA, Buckminister Fuller and the Arcosanti urban laboratory.
