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duality of [Infra]Structure
Infra– refers to the prefix meaning below;
infra-structure literally means below the structure.
Below the transportation infrastructure of the city is where the homeless dwell upon.
 Homeless life in Sham Shui Po x 6 layers + intervention strategy
WHAT
 shelter typology
 street sleeping typology
This thesis aims to design an atemporal housing unit for the homeless which can be activated through plugging in to the various infrastructure in Sham Shui Po. The plug-in unit shall activate a journey of the commute and an experience of the habitat that are cooperative and reciprocal of each other.
Street Sleepers have been opportunistic in utilizing various types of infrastructure for living within the community; e.g. sleeping in the park, getting free meals from community centre, getting hot water from convenient shops, taking refuge materials from construction sites, etc. My project investigates the interlacing supporting networks of homeless in Sham Shui Po and explores possibilities for my intervention to plug-in to each type of infrastructure or their contributions to it.
WHY
 homeless definition & stats
 homeless in SSP
Sham Shui Po has always been the poorest district in Hong Kong. From substandard housing such as cage homes and subdivided rooms (classified as homelessness in the broadest definition), to street sleeping are not uncommon.
Recent statistics show cases in e.g. Denver or Utah, US, that providing a home actually is more economical and sustainable than supporting a homeless life out on the street.
However, homeless has been out of the agenda of policy makers in terms of housing provision. Along the line of housing continuum, any permanent housing or construction (i.e. urban shelter, supportive housing, affordable housing, etc.) for the homeless would be seen uneconomical in the speculative climate in Hong Kong.
The deployable and portable home improves living conditions and networks for street sleepers and provides strategy of survival for a co-existence of homeless within the city. It cannot serve to put a halt on this socio-economical problem immediately.
HOW
 sleep_eat/drink+toilet/bath+shelter material+storage/electricity+management/accessibilty
1 | mapping the spatial perceptions from the commuters and habitants at the designated sections under West Kowloon Corridor in terms of frame rate & camera movement [speed & movement], point of view [view angle], focal length [distance], etc. through series of photographic sequences (1:250)
2 | analytical drawing and model of existing/potential device for homeless housing in the context of [infra]structure to explore methods for adapting and manipulating the infrastructure including the structure and circulation (1:50/1:25)
3 | mapping the infrastructural networks supporting the life of homeless of sites including public bathroom facilities, food collection/delivery services, temporal job availabilities, etc.(in terms of space and time (1:500/1:1000)
4 | experiment with housing device for reciprocal spatial relationship between habitat and commute (1:50/1:25/1:10)
5 | design of the housing unit including necessary adaptations and manipulations of the overpass (1:250/1:50/1:10)
 REF paraSITE by Michael Ratowitz
 REF Instant Housing – Shopping Cart by Winfried Baumann
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