paraSITE shelters
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American artist Michael Rakowitz's paraSITE project proposed to take advantage of the exterior ventilation systems on existing architecture to give the homeless a temporary shelter.
The deflated structure have handles to be easily transported or can be carried on one's back. Once he has found the outtake ducts of a building's HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system, the user attach the intake tube of the structure to the vent. The warm air leaving the building inflates and heats the membrane structure. From February 1998 until April 1998, the artist distributed seven prototypes of the paraSITE shelter to several homeless people in Cambridge. While these shelters were being used, they functioned also as a protest device against authorities willing to make their cities "homeless-proof". They made even more visible the unacceptable circumstances of homeless life within the city. More about parasite architecture in the series written by A-Matter , via dezain. |
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By education i'm actually a industrial/concept designer, and graduated from The Design Academy. One of my projects at the time was about the 3 interactions/relationships called symbiosis, parasitism & mutualism. The outcome was a suite of conceptual... Read More
Ran across this project of Michael Rakowitz, an artist in Cambridge that has put together the paraSITE project. The paraSITE units in their idle state exist as small, collapsible packages with handles for transport by hand or on one's... Read More
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vow I am crazy of this!!!!!!!
I can see the intake being connected to the wrong went and shelter being filed with toxic/noxious fumes. If its for example carbon monoxide and theres a tiny leak in the shelter the occupant would fall asleep and die. They may want to be carefull about things like that
Can you buy ParaSITE somewhere? This is a great way to focus the attention to the homeless people! Especially in winter time when it is freezing cold! In my hometown in the Netherlands homeless people are still a problem...
Whoa, awesome! Great portability and idea.