Development

My ideas for this project are taking shape. What I am truly interested in is a modern architecture that is not created by an architect. I am interested in dwellings that are built using the materials available, the skills at hand, and all to fulfill the needs of the occupant. I want to focus on structures that are for extended living. Some tent cities, like the one in florida which has more sophistication and organization to it, may be a good way to explore these types of homes; but I think limiting myself to these communities could be disabling. 

In the next few days, hopefully, I will have access to a scanner so that I can post pictures of some of the structures I have found that will shift the direction of my research to some extent. One is of a structure that was located in a 'passive solar community center' deep in the forest of North Carolina. This home is created from sheets of plywood to create three dome like structures inspired by Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes. These domes, now demolished due to property changes, went through many phases of physical change to improve the quality of life. All of these changes however, were inspired/envisioned/and fulfilled  by a small community with no formal building background, simply with the skills they came with and learned through process. I will also include photos of a somewhat traditional looking cabin that was all built by my new acquaintance Anthony through 90% salvaged material. These structures are inherently passive and economic, as they are generally off the grid completely, and created by the individual for a living space that works for them.

I am in the process of getting a few more books that will help me as this project continues. The first is 'Shelter' by Lloyd Kahn, the second is 'The Handmade House' by Art Boericke, and the third is 'The Barefoot Architect' by Johan van Lengen. Hopefully I will be able get these shortly. 

The following excerpt is the preface of 'Shelter,' which I think defines the character of what I am trying to achieve:

In times past people built their own homes, grew their own food, made their own clothes. Knowledge of the building crafts and other skills of providing life's basic needs were generally passed along from father to son, mother to daughter, master to apprentice.

Then with industrialization and the population shift from country to cities, this knowledge was put aside and much of it has now been lost. We have seen an era of unprecedented prosperity in America based upon huge amounts of foreign and domestic resources and fueled by finite reserves of stored energy.

And as we have come to realize in recent years, we are running out. Materials are scarce, fuel is in short supply, and prices are escalating. To survive, one is going to have to be either rich or resourceful. Either more dependent upon, or freer from centralized production and controls. The choices arc not clear-cut, for these are complex times. But it is obvious that the more we can do for ourselves, the greater will our individual freedom and independence be.

This book is not about going off to live in a cave and growing all one's own food. It is not based on the idea that everyone can find an acre in the country, or upon a sentimental attachment to the past. It is rather about finding a new and necessary balance in our lives between what can he done by hand and what still must be done by machine.

For in times to come, we will have to find a responsive and sensitive balance between the still-usable skills and wisdom of the past and the sustainable products and inventions of the 20th century.

Of necessity or by choice, there may be a revival of handwork in America. We are certainly capable, and these inherent, dormant talents may prove to be some of our most valuable resources in the future.

This book is about simple homes, natural materials, and human resourcefulness. It is about discovery, hard work, the joys of self-sufficiency, and freedom. It is about shelter, which is more than a roof overhead.

– Lloyd Kahn, 1973

Tent City: Photo Gallery [Sacramento, CA]

http://www.knx1070.com/pages/3975040.php?imageGalleryXRefId=967311#imgXR

Bad Economy = Many Living in RV's in Venice Beach

KNX10.70 News Radio

[courtesy of latimes.com]

"Tough economic times have spilled onto the streets of Venice, which has become a favorite place to park for scores of otherwise homeless people living in cars and campers. The practice has ignited a mini-uprising among residents living in the pricey coastal community."

"The number of cars and recreational vehicles has swelled so much over the last year that Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the city's coastal areas, has proposed creating special zones away from neighborhoods where people can sleep in their vehicles."

"Let's stop kidding ourselves," Rosendahl said. "People are living in their cars. . . . So let's deal with the reality. In this economic downturn, it's even increasing."

"Up to 200 people are living in campers or cars in the Venice area, which has many residential areas where overnight parking is not restricted, the councilman said. As part of his proposal, which is expected to be heard by a council committee within the next few weeks, neighborhoods in Venice would have the option of restricting overnight parking to residents who live in apartments and houses."

"She said such a move would be a hardship because her two teenage children attend school in the area; her daughter also works at a nearby restaurant. For the last three years, she and her children have lived in their car, a van and now the RV, which she said she bought for $850 when it was in fine working order. Since then, she said, people that she suspects are Venice residents have sliced her tires, put gravel in her gasoline tank, stolen her son's clothes and dented the RV's door with clubs."

"That became an issue in Ontario in 2007, when the city set up a secure "tent city" near the airport for the homeless, complete with bathroom and shower facilities.

When hundreds of people from outside the San Bernardino County city descended on the site, Ontario officials decided to limit it to people who could produce documents showing that they had lived in the city."

http://www.knx1070.com/pages/4015512.php?

The Other Side: Truth VS Media?

Tent Cities: An American Tradition

The Huffington Post

'What those reports didn't say is that Sacramento's tent city has been a part of the landscape for years -- at least five, according to a spokesman with the Sacramento mayor's office. Those people weren't all washed onto the banks of the American by a recent wave of foreclosures."

"Readers responded with tips on over a dozen improvised communities across the country, from Olympia, Washington, to Camden, New Jersey. Our follow-up reporting showed, however, that the camps tend to predate the current foreclosure crisis."

"There's nothing new about tent cities in the United States. There's nothing new about poverty in America. Some folks will be living in improvised shelters in public space whether we're in a recession or not. "

"Moreover, a widespread consumer item that wasn't available to our great-grandparents' generation -- the RV -- assures that we'll see waves of people living out of their massive vehiclesbefore communities of middle-class families start sleeping in Wal-Mart tents."

""We have several tent cities here," says Keanna Ralph, a spokeswoman for the Camden, New Jersey mayor's office. Ralph says there a few families living in the "main" tent city, which she says has existed for longer than two years. The city doesn't interact much with the tent dwellers because they're on state property, not city property."

"On the west coast, tent cities are a movement, and the local government is forced to cooperate.

In Olympia, Washington, and some of its surrounding jurisdictions, a tent city called Camp Quixote rotates from church to church every 90 days with the approval of local residents and government."

""Camp Quixote is an alternative model for communities of poor people to live together in a safe, nurturing environment," says Selena Kilmoyer, a member of the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation, the first church to host Camp Quixote. She says the tent city model harks back to the shantytowns of the '30s, "safe environments where poor people could be together and not be afraid."

"There's a very similar setup in Seattle. Since 2002 the city has worked with local nonprofits to maintain a rotating 100-person tent city sanctioned by the actual city, according to a spokesman with the Seattle Department of Human Services."

"Even though the population there "quadrupled in last year," Maviglio says, it's not the economy's fault. Maviglio estimates that 75 percent of the tent dwellers are chronically homeless, unlike the recently middle-class folks featured on Oprah. Maviglio says foreclosure victims "are not the usual suspects.""

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/19/tent-cities-an-american-t_n_175665.html

Economic Casualties Pile Into Tent Cities: USA Today

[Excerpts taken from USA Today Article, Updated 05.06.09. Link is located at the bottom of the page]

"For the economic homeless, the American ideal that education and hard work lead to a comfortable middle-class life has slipped out of reach. They're packing into motels, parking lots and tent cities, alternately distressed and hopeful, searching for work and praying their fortunes will change."

"Tent cities and shelters from California to Massachusetts report growing demand from the newly homeless. The National Alliance to End Homelessness predicted in January that the recession would force 1.5 million more people into homelessness over the next two years. Already, "tens of thousands" have lost their homes, Alliance President Nan Roman says.

The $1.5 billion in new federal stimulus funds for homelessness prevention will help people pay rent, utility bills, moving costs or security deposits, she says, but it won't be enough."

"Pinellas Hope, the tent city run by Catholic Charities here since December 2007, has been largely for the chronically homeless, some of whom suffer from mental illness or struggle with drugs or alcohol. About 20% of its 240 residents became homeless recently because of the economic downturn, says Frank Murphy, president of Catholic Charities, Diocese of St. Petersburg.

"In Massachusetts, a record number of homeless families need emergency shelter, says Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. In mid-April, there were 2,763 families in shelters, including 655 in motels because the shelters were full, an increase of 36% since July, she says."

"Reno officials shut down a tent city in October after making more shelter space available, but new encampments are popping up along the Truckee River and elsewhere, says Kelly Marschall of the Reno Area Alliance for the Homeless."

"In Santa Barbara, Calif., 84 men and women sleep in their cars, trucks or recreational vehicles in 17 parking lots around the city, says Jason Johnson with the New Beginnings Counseling Center, which runs the RV Safe Parking Program. The city, which allows the use of three municipal lots at night, supports the program, says city parking superintendent Victor Garza. Last May, there were 58 participants and no waiting list. Now 40 people are waiting.

"Pinellas Hope in Florida looks like a cookie-cutter subdivision, except that the orderly rows are of tents, not houses. Besides 250 tents, all of similar size, shape and color, there are 15 wooden sheds, 6 feet by 8 feet, that Catholic Charities built as shelters."

"Unlike Pinellas Hope, which doesn't border residential neighborhoods, the Hillsborough County parcel is across the street from a tidy 325-home subdivision called East Lake Park. There, opponents of the tent city have a website: www.stoptentcity.com." "New arrivals must agree to rules, such as not using drugs or alcohol, and perform chores, Lopez says. They get mats, sleeping bags, toiletries, flip-flops for showers and lockable boxes in their tents to store valuables. Within one week, they must make a plan describing how they will work their way out of homelessness." "Residents are expected to move on within five months, but some stay longer." "A year ago, there were 5,500 homeless people in Pinellas County, says St. Petersburg police officer Richard Linkiewicz, a homeless-outreach officer. This year, there are 7,500, including 1,300 children in homeless families, he says." "Shutt has decorated his tent with house plants, including a ficus tree his mother gave him nearly 30 years ago, and pinned Tampa Bay Rays and Buccaneers jerseys to the inside walls." "At Pinellas Hope, Marshall searches online job sites or takes the bus to apply for work at McDonald's, factories and Wal-Mart. He gets $45 a week selling his blood plasma." "I have my résumé online. I go door to door. I make phone calls," he says. "I have not received one phone call, one e-mail. I thought with my experience and my degree, it wouldn't be this difficult." -Marshall

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-04-new-homeless_N.htm

The Beginning

The economic state of our country has put many of us in an uncomfortable situation, a situation that can only be created by the fear and uncertainty of hard times. As a result of these times small 'tent cities' started popping up outside major cities in the summer of 2008. While a portion of these 'campers' were previously homeless a large number of them were individuals, couples, or families who had been left unemployed and homeless due to the recent constrictions of the economy. Shelters filled quickly, typically already to capacity even when the economy was strong, and people were forced to find homes for themselves to survive in. It was then that tent cities, or shanty towns, returned. 

My intentions are to find the sophistication, or lack there of, within these tent cities. By breaking down the social and physical properties of these organizations and comparing them to other forms of dwelling I can possibly come to some conclusion about human needs and about how architecture may or may not be influencing the decisions and perception of an individual. 

This exploration will start with basic research on the idea of 'dwelling' and the typology of 'camp'. This will coincide with research on the history of shanty towns in the USA and internationally as well as the current tent cities and shanty towns domestic and internationally. After the foundation research I will take a week driving between tent cities, from Utah to Vegas, Southern California, Fresno, Sacramento, Reno, and back to Salt Lake. During this time I will be photographing, drawing, and taking surveys/notes of each encampment. This trip will take place during the last ten days of July.

Currently I am reading "Camp" and "Atlas of Novel Tectonics". Officially this project starts today with this blog. In my next blog I will be including thoughts and information from either text. 

-Cheers