Shelter in a Cart Competition
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.11.06
We were excited when Designboom announced the Shelter in a Cart competition, to "Design a cart that can provide shelter and storage for the urban homeless" .While it may not be an answer to the problem of homelessness, it certainly raises questions and challenges our ideas. We also are intrigued by ideas for living with less and nobody does so like the homeless. Smart camping equipment manufacturers should look closely.
We were surprised by the winner , panagiotis dramitinos + karaolis alkis + alexandros papageorgiou from greece, (shown above) , finding it less imaginative than most and doubting the viability of the tent and sleeping arrangement. We cannot find jurors' comments so we cannot pass on why it won.
In fact, we liked all of the winners less than some of the honourable mentions.
Radu Comsa of Romania was one of the few that did not make you empty the container to convert it for sleeping; the four rigid and locable containers pop out to create a hard-surfaced and safer sleeping area. We liked the fact that you could separate the things you find from those that you own.
PUMP AND JUMP by jeong-yun heo + Seong-ho, Kim + + Chung, Lee from korea wouldn't last a night on the street but I want one now.
We have a huge aboriginal homeless problem in Toronto; how appropriate for them to live in iglooboxes. We could fill City Hall Square with them. From georgi djongarski from bulgaria.
barbara pitschmann from austria has built the real thing and it works.
"The side-cart bicycle would ease the city-nomads working and broaden their territory." -and it would be great for bicycle touring. from Heino Partanen + Lilli Partanen from finland
asher dunn from usa has designed what could be a big hit- a cross between a boblbee rigid pack and a one-person shelter that would work in a lot of situations. (like after you miss the last train home). Asher, call your patent attorney right now.
Bulgaria. Romania. Korea. Russia. The wonderful thing about Designboom is that it draws the best from around the world in a way few other competitions do. Look at them all, carefully- good design is everywhere now. ::Designboom
We will look at other entries tomorrow.
this is an insulting competition. Now we have consumerism for homless ness that celebrates the inate vagabond nature lester with his bottle of maddog looks sporty in his latest sleep and slum creation. BLECH what drivel
Maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I was surprised that I didn't see any link to Krzysztof Wodiczko's 15-years-or-older "Homeless Vehicle Project" from the contest pages.
I guess it's good as it gets people thinking about the homeless, but when you can go to Wal Mart/Academy/Target and buy a tent for $20 and a sleeping bag for another $20 it's a bit sense less effort.
What a waste of time and energy. We would be better off trying to address the root problems that create homelessness, than to design better ways for them to continue to be homeless.
Wow. The people who thought up that comment have clearly never worked with the homeless. What is supposed to happen to your cart when the police pick you up for vagrancy or loitering?
They are clearly clueless when it come to homeless needs. These designs do nothing for security, make little or no use of living off the urban land (such as using a thermal sink to warm or cool themselves off, and no thought to the individual identifies that prevent mentally challenged homeless to be able to identify their cart (preventing fights from mistaken ownership).
Why doesn't Treehugger have a contest for the best ideas to improve life for the homeless. Ideas should be based not only on concept, but also practicality, economics, sustainability, and enabling homeless to contribute in some way.
A neat idea but how the heck are the homeless going to afford it? And what if somebody rob the our John Doe for owning a nifty-looking "equipment"?
Designing urban, communal living space for the homeless to live in seems to be a better idea.
WHAT? Most homeless people I see can't even walk, they are so down and out of it...INsulting. this looks like a camping project for yuppies :( boooooo!
i think these gadgets are REALLY cool!!
i want one of those igloo tents now!!
hehehe :D