Homeless Shelter

The Hanging Homeless Shelter is a proposal for the borough of Newham. Newham had one of the highest homeless and low income populations of London and in reimagining the potential urban relationship of this demographic, the proposal creates a light-weight, potentially movable, homeless shelter which could migrate to the areas with the greatest need. Rain water is collected and filtered through the fabric of the architecture and re-used in the various necessary functions that allow the homeless to have access to shelter and clean water, providing them with greater opportunities. The proposed site is off Newham High Street, by the side of a multi-storey carpark. The borough has a very high low income cultural diversity and as a result there are high levels isolated individuals with under invested communities. The proposal seeks to create a new community space for the most isolated and vulnerable. Developed from understanding and researching light-weight structures, the design development investigated the connections and joints between fabric and bamboo structures as well as the ideal triangulated geometries that would allow for the structural integrity of the suspended proposal.