Why Makeshift Shelter?

Homeless

As designers, we have to focus on the needs of the people and what they are going to be doing in that space. We need to make people feel comfortable in that space as well because if they don't feel comfortable, they won't want to use the space. In our Makeshift Shelter project we need to design around the activity that will take place in each shelter. The shelters are made for different purposes. One is for snacking, another for sleeping, another for socializing, etc. Once our shelters are finished, people will come through our lobby of the Gatewood Studio Arts building and get to experience the different activities that each shelter is made for. I hope that people will see how easy it is to make shelters that can be made in Haiti possibly. By experiencing what it is like being in the shelters, I hope people will donate to Haiti realizing that shelters are now homes for the people in Haiti. Like Suzanne said, "Earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do." I hope that in the future Haiti will have buildings that can survive earthquakes and will be designed in a way to keep people alive. The point of the shelter project is to experience the activities in the shelters to raise awareness for Haiti to grab peoples attention and donate.

Nature's Purest

This weekend I have collected all found plastic bottles for our shelter. Having water bottles as part of our design will give our snacking shelter a feel of nature as bottles are shimmery when light hits them just like water does.

Makeshift Shelter: Narrative

On Friday January 29, 2010, George wakes up late in his dorm for his painting class that is on the other side of campus in the studio arts building. He realizes he doesn’t have time to shower, so he hurries to put on appropriate clothes and grabs his bag and walks to the studio arts building. As he opens the door to his building, he sees a tall bright shelter that catches his attention. He has a few more minutes until class starts so he decides to check it out. George is amazed how it is only made of recycled water bottles, bubble wrap, a car door panel, and foam board. There are two entrances, each directly across from each other. He goes in on the right side and immediately feels cramped, but cozy and safe at the same time. It is small, shimmery from the bottles and is shaped like a pyramid. The top bottle is a green sprite bottle and makes for an interesting effect. All the holes between the bottles are covered with bubble wrap. There is two foam board shelves in the corner opposite of the entrances with shaved out bowls that held some apples, oranges and bananas. The top shelf had real cherry tomatoes that you could pick from the plant! George then ate a banana as he sat on the thick blue foam board bench. George exited out the other entrance and saw the car door panel that looked like it could be a window for the shelter since it had a glass roll down window. He then realized it was time for class to start and as he left he felt thankful for a healthy breakfast at the shelter and was feeling refreshed. It was a place for new imagination as nature and reality came together.

Makeshift Shelter

We have been given our first studio project, which I am excited about since our shelters have to be made of found objects. My group includes Carlos, Veronica, Cassandra and myself. We have to design and build a shelter that is for snacking in. We put our heads together and tossed up some crazy ideas that included a gingerbread house, a real garden, having windows, a circle concept and/or theme, tables, bowls of food, and putting plants inside plastic bottles that are cut in half. We gathered some materials that we found in the free-bin in studio that included a lot of wood, plastic, bubble wrap, papers, cardboard, fabric, cylinder tubes, and foam board. From the ideas and materials, tomorrow we will have a more exact idea for this snacking shelter. For now we are still jotting down ideas and sharing them with one another.