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Posts Tagged ‘Tent’

Parasite Tent Pods: Vertical Urban Wall Homes for Homeless

22 Dec

[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

parasitic homeless tent community

In cities around the world, people are feeling the effects of a weak global economy and homeless populations continue to rise. Taking shelter in cardboard boxes or in isolated tents can be dangerous – not only due to inclement weather, but also for the fear of robbery or violence.

hanging tents for homeless population

The A-Kamp47 project from Malka Architecture gives the homeless a safe place to sleep. Using a blank vertical expanse of wall, they installed 23 small tent pods. The pods are “parasitic” structures, meaning that they rely on another structure to provide them a place to sit.

suspended camp for homeless people

Each tent provides a private space for the city’s homeless. The grouping of tents embodies the old adage “safety in numbers.” Residents can enter their tents via the scaffolding between the wall and the tend pods.

a-kamp 47 homeless tent colony

The project is not without controversy; the wall used by the architects exists in a grey area between private and public space. They hope, however, that their efforts will lead to increased awareness of the homeless problem and encourage people to get involved in the cause.

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[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Parasite Tent Pods: Vertical Urban Wall Homes for Homeless

11 Dec

[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

parasitic homeless tent community

In cities around the world, people are feeling the effects of a weak global economy and homeless populations continue to rise. Taking shelter in cardboard boxes or in isolated tents can be dangerous – not only due to inclement weather, but also for the fear of robbery or violence.

hanging tents for homeless population

The A-Kamp47 project from Malka Architecture gives the homeless a safe place to sleep. Using a blank vertical expanse of wall, they installed 23 small tent pods. The pods are “parasitic” structures, meaning that they rely on another structure to provide them a place to sit.

suspended camp for homeless people

Each tent provides a private space for the city’s homeless. The grouping of tents embodies the old adage “safety in numbers.” Residents can enter their tents via the scaffolding between the wall and the tend pods.

a-kamp 47 homeless tent colony

The project is not without controversy; the wall used by the architects exists in a grey area between private and public space. They hope, however, that their efforts will lead to increased awareness of the homeless problem and encourage people to get involved in the cause.

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[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Skyscraper Slums: Insider Tour of World’s Tallest Tent City

27 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Global & Urbex & Parkour. ]

skyscraper slum

Housing over 2,500 people in 28 of its 45 floors, the Tower of David is a half-finished structure in Caracas, Venezuela, populated with displaced people. Like the now-vanished Kowloon Walled City or a huge vertical tent city, it is feared by officials and runs by its own rules. Its residents pool resources, including skills and money, to create and maintain independent and communal water supplies, plumbing and power grids.

Even the police are afraid to enter this effectively lawless structure, but through friends one video journalist was given permission to tour and film the facility – you can follow his adventure via the video above.

skyscraper squatter city life

What may be most remarkable is how much like a normal building it is, with new couples coming in and renovating dwellings, and established businesses (including a hair salon) and community spaces (at least one church).

skyscraper interior home renovations

That is, of course, ‘normal’ once you get past architectural surprises like the absence of windows along some faces and the dizzying drops of dozens of stories off of unmarked edges lacking railings. The authorities also claim the structure is a hotbed for crime and violence, home to gang activity and drug cartels, but this one brief documentary, at least, suggests things are a bit more complicated than that.

skyscraper abandoned then occupied

As we described in previous coverage and with other images, the structure was being built into business skyscraper when construction halted during the 1990s financial crisis. It was then effectively abandoned and has since become a haven for a squatters who started moving in during the subsequent crisis 2007/2008. Now, these residents ride up the first ten stories taken by moped taxis or, if sufficiently poor, walk the distance. With no elevators, some skyscraper dwellers have to walk dozens of stories to get home. As in pre-elevator days, the top floors are thus the least desirable and many remain unoccupied –  from outside, you can see the light dwindling up toward the upper stories at night.

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[ By WebUrbanist in Global & Urbex & Parkour. ]

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Walking Shelter: Sneakers Expand Into Human-Frame Tent

08 Aug

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

Walking Shelter Sneakers Tent 1

The next time you need a portable shelter, you could just pull it out of your sneakers and expand it into a tent using your own body as a frame. The Walking Shelter packs a lightweight nylon tent into two net pockets integrated into a pair of shoes. Pull it over yourself and you’ve got a rain-proof structure that will keep you dry and comfortable, as long as you don’t mind sitting up for extended periods.

Walking Shelter Sneakers Tent 2

Walking Shelter Sneakers Tent 4

Designed by SIBLING, a collective based in Melbourne, Sydney and Amsterdam, Walking Shelter can be customized by the user to adapt to a variety of contexts and environments. While it may not be the most practical tent for real-life use, it makes an interesting statement on the nature of human shelter in the modern urban world.

Walking Shelter Sneakers Tent 5

Walking Shelter Sneakers Tent 7

The design calls to mind other shelters, made for both practical applications and as statement-making thought pieces, that could make life more comfortable for the homeless. Could such a simple design help address a chronic global problem, in a small way?

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Design Miami Tent Covered with Inflatable Sausages

13 Dec

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Bundles of giant white inflatable sausages make a big visual impact on the exterior walls of the Design Miami tent at Art Basel. New York studio Skarnitecture covered the structure in vinyl tubes bundled together at varying heights for a result that’s highly unusual, to say the least.

The studio aimed to transform the tent using limited palette and a limited range of materials, mostly relying on the same vinyl that was already used to create the tent itself.

The tubes drip down into lounge areas just outside the tent like rounded man-made stalactites.

Inflatables give architects an opportunity for experimentation that can’t be replicated with permanent materials. See 17 more creatively amorphous inflatable structures including pavilions, additions, temporary balconies and even entire cities.


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Creative Urban Furniture: Convertible, Inflatable & Portable Homeless Shelters

Regardless of your view of street dwellers or opinion regarding the best solutions to these problems, suspend your judgment for a moment to take in these extremely cool designs!
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Boat to Go: Portable Flat-Pack Vessel Folds Up Like a Tent

16 Oct

[ By Delana in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

This folding boat from design student Thibault Penven is a surprisingly effective way to keep a water conveyance with you at all times. It is surprising, of course, because one would not expect a boat to fold up and still be water-worthy – but this one does it spectacularly and without much trouble.

The project is called Ar Vag, and it quickly goes from a folded up, easily transportable waterproof skin to a one-person rowboat. The yellow waterproof skin is reinforced with rigid boards sewn inside. After unfolding, poles are inserted into pockets in the rim of the boat – kind of like tent poles – to hold the boat open.

Finally, a board holds the sides apart under tension and acts as a seat. The unfolded boat is surprisingly watertight and looks much like a normal boat – with one difference: when you’re done paddling around for the day, this one fits in the hatchback of a compact car.


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Whatever Floats Your Boat: 29 Wild Watercraft

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[ By Delana in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

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