College of Built Environments at the University of Washington.
Helping the homeless with hands, heads, hearts.
Monday April 2008
UW CAUP architecture student Sean Kelly (seated) and his classmates built a composting toilet made of recycled materials for this year's Design Build Challenge.
This year's Design Build Challenge, hosted by last year's New Orleans winners were given the tasks of designing and building temporary structures to serve the needs of Seattle's homeless population. Among the challenges: design and build portable toilets, design traveling memorials for those who have died on the streets, and design an educational kiosk where homeless communities can learn about waste management. The timing of these projects could not have been better, as Seattle Public Utilities has recommended that the self-cleaning public toilets installed 4 years ago be discontinued because of cost. Furthermore, with recent sweeps, "the city has turned a lot uglier in dealing with [encampments]," according to CAUP's Professor of Architecture, and one of this year's judges, Steve Badanes, who went on to say "I think this is an appropriate issue for us." Architects tend to design homes primarily for the wealthy, but Badanes says that "commuity-motivated architecture" has a strong history and may be coming back, with over a dozen Seattle firms pledging 1 percent of their time to pro-bono, community work. A campaign for public-interest design, Public Architecture, began in 2005, and now over 300 firms nationwide have made the 1 percent pledge. The organizers for Tent City, SHARE/WHEEL, and Homeless Women in Black were on board with this year's Design Build Challenge, and had expressed the need for the proposed design projects. The winning design will be featured in UW CAUP's magazine, "Column 5."
For more on this story please visit Real Change and The Seattle Times online.