Report (homeless) by Abdullah Azeem

H O M E L E S S N E S

CONTENTS Abstract

Introduction

Facts Around Globe Facts Around Pakistan

Outline

City Context

Response to Brief

City poster

(Concrete Pillow)

Project Brief

Site General information

Case-Studies

ABSTRACT The world population grows exponentially, people are ďŹ nding it harder to maintain a job and a place to live so that they dont have to face the reality of having to live on the streets, footpaths or roads. Home is a place which provides safe shelter to people, a place where they belong. Homelessness is a growing social problem in Pakistan as well. Due to rapid urbanization in Pakistan, people from different rural areas of the country are attracted towards city life to earn their livelihood. Lahore is a major city of Punjab. Due to attraction of city life and job opportunities people migrate from the rural areas and small cities of the province. It has massively increased in Lahore. Majority of the people belongs to lower socio-economic class and cannot afford the rent. These people use open public spaces to sleep at night. These public places may be parks, shrines, footpaths, fronts of markets etc.People are helpless because they have no sense of security, shelter. The job and life skills are necessary to sustain themselves independently in a society. These groups could be improved by providing them a shelter, knowledge and awareness to practice their skills. Knowledge is the path to success in any work and may hold the key to ending poverty and homelessness. In Pakistan the situation is more worsening regarding homeless because there is no organized mechanism to look after this marginal group of society and these marginal groups are creating marginalized areas in our

context, there is lack of ďŹ nancial assistance and virtually no educational programs for homeless youth. These homeless people have no restriction on their activities. They used public spaces to sleep and some criminals were also detected among them. With respect to the context of these areas they require attention and by working on this issues the situation in Pakistan can also be improved.

HOMELESSNESS AROUND GLOBE Poverty and homelessness are problems that plague

cities all over the world. Current policies for reducing these conditions rely on welfare and subsidized housing which are only temporary solutions to these conditions. It is very difﬁcult to determine how many homeless people there are in the world because countries have different legal deﬁnitions for homelessness. Homelessness is a major issue facing the world right now. People are suffering all around the world. Homelessness can be described as that they don’t have any money and they also don’t have shelter so they have to live in the streets. A place in the world where there is the most homelessness due to hunger is Africa and India. In particular, most of all states of Africa have homeless people and in Africa also has homeless people. Source: United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 2005. (www.homelessworldcup.org)

Europe

An estimated 3 million people are homeless in Europe Source: Red de Apoyo a la Integración Sociolaboral (RAIS) 2010.

India

In 2003, there were 78 million homeless people in India Source: Action Aid, 2003

Australia

100,000 people sleep on the streets of Australia everyday Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003. An estimated 105,000 people arehomeless in Australia.

United Kingdom The UK has one of the highest levels of homelessness in Europe with more than 4 people per 1,000 estimated to be homeless Source: Homeless Pages, 2004.

USA

Estimated homeless ﬁgures in the United States range from 600,000 to 2.5 million Source: http://www.fas.org, 2009

HOMELESSNESS AROUND GLOBE

Homelessness continues to be a largely urban phenomenon. 71% are in central cities 21% are in suburbs 9% are in rural areas People who are homeless frequently report health problems. 38% report alcohol use problems 26% report other drug use problems 39% report some form of mental health problems (20-25% meet criteria for serious mental illness) 66% report either substance use and/or mental health problems 3% report having HIV/AIDS 26% report acute health problems other than HIV/AIDS such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, or sexually transmitted diseases 46% report chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or cancer Homeless people are also more likely to die as a result of other external factors such as trafďŹ c accidents (3 times as likely), infections (twice as likely) and falls (over 3times as likely). Homelessness plays a signiďŹ cant role in the health and mortality of homeless people.

Distribution of causes of death for homeless people

Percentage population livingon less than 1 dollar day

Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/12/homelessness_around_the_ world.html. (http://www.shelter20.com/homeless-statistics/) Homelessness: A silent killer A research brieďŹ ng on mortality amongst homeless people.dec 2011

Homeless people sleep in an open ground area near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India Dec. 13

Portrait of the homeless by Lee Jeffries.

HOMELESSNESS IN PAKISTAN The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the world’s 7th most populous and second largest Muslim nation, after Indonesia, with a population of about 160 million. Current trends in pakistan’s urban development remain uncontrolled and unguided and are highly unsustainable. Very little is achieved in implementing the existing set of policies covering human settlements and housing. This situation has resulted in exacerbating urban poverty amidst a rapidly growing urban economy. The social unrest and instability in the cities is attributed to this gap between the rich and the poor in the urban areas. Pakistan is still a rural country, with two-thirds of the population still living in rural areas. However, Pakistan is already the most urbanised country in South Asia, with some 58 million people living in cities. This number is increasing at a rate of 3.3 percent which is three times faster than in rural areas. The urban population is expected to rise by another 70 – 80 million by 2030. Stat istical overview Total population: 167 m Urban population: 60 m (36 %) Annual growth rates (2005-2010) National: 1.8 % Urban: 3 % Major cities (2008) Karachi: 12.4 m Lahore: 6.7 m Faisalabad: 2.6 m Islamabad / Rawalpindi: 2.5m Slum indicators Slum to urban population: 48 %

Access to housing for the urban poor is equally difﬁcult, resulting in very low quality, overcrowding and inadequate shelter for slum dwellers. During the last four decades housing conditions for a vast majority of people have deteriorated in urban centers of Pakistan. It has created a massive bulk of population in Lahore. Majority of the people belongs to lower socio-economic class and cannot afford the rent.These people use open public places to sleep at night. These public places may be parks, shrines, footpaths, fronts of markets etc. As there is no restriction from police and city district government on this homeless population so they can use these public places without any fear. COUNTRY PROGRAMME DOCUMENT ,2008 – 2009

HOMELESSNESS IN PAKISTAN

Lahore teem with homeless There are no official figures on the number of homeless people in the city. Estimates can be difficult, because each year, in summer, the number of people sleeping in open spaces rises markedly, many finding escape from the oppressive heat in often cramped houses.The homeless are classified as those who sleep outdoors throughout the year. In a petition moved before the Lahore High Court in 2005 seeking protection for homeless people, advocate Mohammad Tahir put the figure for such persons in Lahore at closer to 500,000. According to the Nai Zindagi (New Life) organization, which runs the Smile Project to take care of homeless youth on the street, at least 5,000 persons aged under 18 live on the street. LAHORE, 29 May 2007 (IRIN)

LAHORE

CITY C O N T E X T S T U DY

Pakistan Coordinates 33°43′N 73°04′E

HISTORY: Pakistan traces its history back to 2,500 years B.C., when a highly developed civilization in the Indus Valley, excavations at Harappa, Moenjodaro, Kot Diji and Mehr Garh have brought to light, the evidence of an advanced civilization existing even in more ancient times. GOVERNMENT: Pakistan is an Islamic republic with its capital at Islamabad. It has four provinces: Balochistan, khyber pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh. Their respective capitals are Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi. POPULATION: Total population : 130.58 million Density : 164 person / Sq.km

Lahore

Population: 5,129,214 Situated on the east bank of the Ravi River, Lahore is very old. Lahore is the site of architecturally signiﬁcant buildings and monuments, many dating from the Mughal Empire (1526-1707), during which the city achieved great prominence.

source :http://www.lahore.g2gm.com/history.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20080716230204/http://www.lahore. gov.pk/proﬁle/proﬁlemain.htm

C O N T E X T S T U DY

ALLHAMRA ARTS COUNCIL completed in 1992 The design was a winner of the Agha Khan Award for Architecture in 1998

Lahore Gymkhana club was formed on 1878 .The main objective of providing social and intellectual recreation to the residents of Lahore and Lahore Cantonment

PUNJAB ASSEMBLY was built in 1935

Lahore fort

The WAPDA Building was designed by the American Architect Edward A. Stone and completed in 1960

Badshahi Mosque

ARFA karim technology Park

Quaid-e-Azam Library

CONCRETE PILLOW

CITY POSTER

Concrete Pillow Home is a place which provides safe shelter to people, a place where they belong. Homelessness is a growing social problem in Pakistan. and as far as shelter for poor is concerned, a large ďŹ gure is facing the problem of homelessness.The population of these homeless people who are living in Lahore and using different public places to sleep dont have a roof where they can sleep at night.The footpath streets and benches are ďŹ lled with these people. Life on the streets is tough. But for many millions of homeless people, there is no other choice and each evening brings a search for a new place to spread out their scanty belongings and prepare to spend another long, lonely and sometimes dangerous night.

LAHORE

THE SITE

The allocated chunk starts from wapda house building,Mall road till fortress stadium,lahore cantt. The total area of allocated site is 1549 acers and totaldistance =13km Neighbouring Areas Gulberg-V Shadman Jail Road Mall Road

MAJOR ROAD LINKAGES

MAJOR HOSPITAL

MAJOR ROAD LINKAGES

Major Institutes

PROPOSED SITE

PROPOSED SITE AREA SHERPAO BRIDGE NUMBER OF ARCHES= 33 NUMBER OF ARCHES USING = 10 TOTAL AREA :52527 sq.ft ACERS= 1

SITE NARRATIVE The social chaos and instability in the cities is attributed the gap between the rich and the poor in the urban areas and the massive urbanization in Lahore created this unrest situation more critical as there are a lot of challenges related to human settlements, lack of housing and unaffordable living spaces in the city. Under these situations city is keep expanding and using its agricultural lands. In all this scenario there is no mechanism for those who are directly or indirectly effected by this situation. With all worst stories of wasting agricultural lands there are a lot of negative and black spots present within the city that are untouched and under-utilized. The walk on allocated chunk shows a lot of ﬂaws regarding city spaces. They clearly deny to what the city’s present need are, a large scale area is useless whereas the city is expanding its boundaries and is eating up its agricultural land. When I visited the Cantt railway station and its neighboring land, a huge area was wasted where one of the platforms is being used by the homeless people and drug addicts, the railway car¬riages are just standing there purposeless, the nearby Sherpao bridge is providing the homeless labors, drug addicts a tempo-rary shelter for night, who come from different part of city or out of city in search of work. This old bridge contains large empty crust spaces (arches) but useless and reﬂecting the black void in that large space where a lot of activities are happening around. When looked at these people leads to idea that they have no sense of security, they have no proper shelter thus are more inclined to get involved in criminal activities or can start an unplanned settlement, so there should be a space for them underneath the bridge and an architectural idea can give a hope, living shelter and a sense positivity for this neglected groups. Rather than keep using our agricultural land, design these land/ spaces in the city and by architectural intervention change the nature

CAN AN ARCHITECTURAL SPACE CONVERT THESE DEAD SPACES INTO LIVE SPACES? AN ADPATIVELY REUSE OF THESE SPACES CAN CHANGE LIFE OF PEOPLE?

of these spaces. In day natural light lilting up half of these crust arch spaces and in night the ďŹ re glowing the space. Tracks near stations give another story of wasting resources, the out of track carriages are now acting as the public washrooms. By spending couple of hours on this track area realized me that these rusty carriages can be reuse to develop an architectural design in the adjoining areas for the people who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have space of security and shelter. On standing each of the crust arch space under the bridge give the different views towards both sides of street. The sound of train passing make different ambiance here. And through architectural intervention this strong brick made bridge can give a spatial expressing that blending inside and outside that will give it a new identity rather a black spot in the area. While observing the activities at railway track how people using the track for their social interaction, playing cards and other activities give me a whole idea of an public space or public walkway this all can be change into large landscape area, green walkways that will connect the unconnected fortress stadium areas from here and other adjoining areas that will be the removal of unnecessary boundaries and land-use for public.

P R O J E C T O U T L I N E

Home is a place, which provides safe shelter to people, a place where they belong. Homeless people are helpless because they have no sense of security, they have no shelter and other basic needs of life. By observing the site Shelter should be designed for the homeless group that are present in this immediate context and the surroundingarea. The area consists of wasted materials and spaces that will be converted into architectural spaces for the homeless. Empty bridgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crust will be converted to shelter units for homeless group. Railway carriages in the adjoining areas of cantt station will transformed for the shelters using the interior to create intresting transformable spaces which can be changed and used as per need,taking up less space. The dark crust spaces will be designed in such a way as to bring life into these empty spaces which lack spatial character. Through massing and voids, play of lightand natural ventialtion these spaces will me made habitable. each crust sapce having its unique spatial character which inturn will improve the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outlook , clearing off the streets and providing security to those who are not as blessed.

In major parts of Lahore city there are significant number of young and old men lying on roadsides and in most of the cases are prone to be drug users. They are the ones who have no home, no families, no work and no proper food to eat. The footpaths, streets and roads are their residences. The city has an estimate of 200,000 homeless people. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), there have also been reports of growing homelessness in many cities of Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan province. Besides financial uncertainty, these families are more likely to be exposed to series of negative events including illness, depression, job loss, criminal oppression. Homelessness, or extreme poverty, carries with it a particularly strong set of risks for families, especially children. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition and immunization, experiencing health problems. If this problem is not solved, they will get involved in criminal activities or are most likely to start an unplanned settlement that in turn will start creating a negative impact on the urban life. Not only polluting the environment but also painting a black image of the historical and culturally rich city of Lahore. Their situation and living standard can be catered by providing them with shelter housing and financial assistance, knowledge and professional skills. These vagabonds and drug addicts should be brought in these shelters to provide them with medical care, psychological healing and professional trainings, children should get basic learning in the daycare centers that ought to mould them to survive in the society, as a Chinese proverb states, “Lit a candle instead of cursing the darkness”. The functional groups divide into three categories Living units, informal Educational Workplaces and Health and counseling.

The shelters will be for those who don’t have any space to spend the night because security and freedom to live with basic needs of life should be the right of all and after a hard day of labor many don’t have a shelter to spend the night without fear. The shelters should be occupied at night where they will come to rest, there should be a small space but very well lit with spatial qualities that will give them sense of comfort, it will be a small living unit that contains only the resting space. In these living spaces there should be two sub-categories some living units are for single person and other will be for the family that can’t afford house or pay the rent, can live here in these transitory living units. Training and work space should be for those who do not have enough funds to get technical training and earn a living. They will come to the vocational trainings that will give them skills and also provide them with resources for attaining experience in the required work, practicing them in workshop areas which will be open for other public too where people can come and get the related facilities and the revenue gathered can be contribute among the users and in result provide ﬁnancial stability for them and their families. Health and counseling facilities are needed for those who are involved in negative activities like drugs or any other social problem which is not very serious. A Space where through counseling these people can start moving towards a normal life and also to provide for them basic health facilities. There are a lot of young population that effected with homelessness and start involving in negative activities some daycare space should be introduce for them so that they will learn the society’s demands and learn to be a good citizen. For running all these programs there should be a mechanism that will generate the revenue and made this a whole program

self-sustain and for cost reducing these architectural spaces should be design in way that it will act as multi-functioning spaces. For functioning all these programs the administration is the important part for this building programs. The major groups that are divided are distributed into following categories: Vocational Trainings+workshops Automotive Construction Wood Electrical Shelter units Rading area living area/sitting area Communal spaces Administration

RESPONSE TO THE BRIEF

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and Wellbeing of himself and his family, including housing. Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 25 (1)

Homelessness is continuum of housing, ranging from living on the street to inadequate, insecure housing. Home is most often presented positively, in ideal terms, and homelessness is invariably positioned negatively as a darker reality, but an architectural program/idea add up the lit for hope a space where a person facing homelessness come and spend the time with the sense of security and comfort of life. Different categories have been identiďŹ ed of homeless people in Lahore. During ďŹ eld observations it was observed that homeless people were purely from labor class. Some are drug addicts and mentally ill patient was found and some involved in criminal activities. The study suggested that there is a need of emergency shelters for homeless youth and learning environment. It is also suggested to reorganize ďŹ nancial assistance and skill trainings that will help to stable themselves. An architectural spaces where they will experience different thing within one unit. As all program need to be there at one place and funds will need for all this a mechanism required to cater all these program in limited funds. The site study give an ideal condition to place these program by reuse the present structure that is present aban-

The training programs and workshops related to these particular trainings will respect the context as these are somehow present in neighboring areas. The Automotive consists of auto mechanics involving the diagnostic and repair of automobiles, as well as collision repair. These departments require street or alley access in order to bring cars into the repair labs. The laboratories should be double height spaces in order to accommodate car lifts. These spaces need to be well ventilated. Building and Construction focuses on career training in carpentry, masonry, plumbing, electrical and welding. All areas in this department require access to outdoor space as well as access to a street. The carpentry and masonry departments require double height spaces. The green space for a planting courtyard, as well as greenhouse spaces. The greenhouse spaces act as garden centers and that will be act as plant shop as well for the allocated context area. The living shelter units will be design in carriages that present on railway track and develop space for the homeless to spend the night. The library must be easily accessible for all the users and should therefore be adjacent to the main building and courtyard. The restaurant and bakery that will open to the community. The restaurant component requires street areas in order to

facilitate as a community restaurant and as well outdoor space for dining. The intent of the communal spaces is to serve as informal meeting and these spaces provide views to the outside, as well as allow for natural light. The sports facilities provides interaction between them. Natural light and ventilation are important to the design of sport facility. Childcare provides the necessary education and care of infants through elementary school and daycare centers. The childcare department requires adjacency to outdoor space to act as a child play area. The administrative must be adjacent to the main entrance and the main circulation path. The programs are divide in a following

AUTOMOTIVE TRAINING CAR LIFTER BAY TOOLS RACKS GARAGE AREA STORAGE ROOM WORKSHOP TOTAL AREA STUDIO AREA TOTAL CONSTRUCTION TRAINING DISPLAY LABOR SITTING AREA STORAGE ROOM TOTAL STUDIO TOTAL WOOD TRAINING DISPLAY STORAGE ROOM STUDIO 2110 TOTAL AREA

ELECTRICAL TRAINING LAB STUDIO AREA

300 250 1000 500 2050 4600 6650 450 500 120 1070 2120 3190

1000 150 1500 AREA 3610 1500 1532

MESS + DINING (FOOD FACILITY) 4425 MANAGER OFFICE WASHROOMS TOTAL

150 200 4775

GREEN COMMUNAL SPACES ADMINISTRATION LIVING AREA READING AREA LECTURE ROOM FIRST AID AREA

8750

3500 1200 1000 1500 800

SHELTERS/LIVING PODS SINGLE UNIT WASHRROM+SHOWER+LOCKERS

1200 1200

TOTAL AREA = 35632 SQ.FT

CASE-STUDIES

Architects: Javier Larraz (Larraz Arquitectos) Location: Navarra, Spain Project area: 995 sqm Project year: 2010 The construction of the new Shelter Home for the Homeless offers, beyond satisfying the needs of shelter and food for the residents, is an opportunity for improving the quality of life of a socially excluded group, whose needs reach further than the simple fact of finding a place to sleep. A sound volume, able to assume with personality the intensity of use to which it is going to be subjected to, and being at the same time flexible in its functioning, where the interior configuration facilitates the coexistence among the different groups of users and allows for undertaking the different needs that are found in a relatively complex program in spite of its limited space: bedrooms, dining rooms, occupational workshops, leisure rooms, etc.

A silent box is proposed, that protects its contents from the curiosity of the onlookers, and that adequately integrates its reduced scale in a semi-urban, bleak environment. The Project has undertaken an exercise of careful contention in various levels: Spatial: An extremely rational distribution is disposed, modulated and adjusted, where the program of needs exhausts the meagre area at our disposal. Energetic: the building holds an A level energetic qualiďŹ cation. The centre offers shelter and food for its users. In exchange of these, they must get involved in the daily tasks of maintenance, such as cleaning, washing, gardening, painting,â&#x20AC;Śsearching in this way for a personal compromise and positively focusing the respect for the new installation

Inside The Keret House – the World’s Skinniest House Project’s Founder/Concept Designer: Jakub Szczesny Art Curators: Sarmen Beglarian, Sylwia Szymaniak Partner: National Centre for Culture.

CASE-STUDIES

The vision has become a reality and is drawing a signiﬁcant amount of international attention to the city of Warsaw. Built between two existing structures from two historical epochs, the narrow inﬁll is more of an art installation that reacts to the past and present of Warsaw. Although the semi-transparent, windowless structure’s widest point measures only 122 centimeters, it’s naturally lit interior doesn’t seem nearly as claustrophobic as one would think., Keret House is the installation art in the form of an insert in between two existing buildings.

The House is located on the plot measuring 92 centimeters in its narrowest point and 152 centimeters in its widest point. “That is why at ﬁrst it seems that the construction of living space within such premise is impossible. Keret House is to contradict that false image, simultaneously broadening the concept of impossible architecture”, says the architect Jakub Szczesny. The house itself is 72 centimeters in the narrowest and 122 centimeters in the widest point. The house is raised up on stilts and is accessed by a main staircase, while each ﬂoor in the house can be accessed by a narrow staircase or ladder. The main area of the building is like a miniature version of a loft apartment and the space of the entire home is entirely functional with no excess.

Hopetel

United States As a result of the recent deteriorating economy and rising unemployment, homelessness is among the most pressing issues faced by US cities. The housing market crash, â&#x20AC;&#x153;tent citiesâ&#x20AC;? (makeshift shelters set up by people who have lost their homes) have been popping up all over the country. It is a time where the poverty rate is at a record high, and in many cities unemployment is in double-digits. This project proposes a transient solution to accommodate growing numbers of citizens who have lost their houses to foreclosure. The main conception is to engender an environment that will provide a stable ground during the search for a steady income and a permanent home.

The spatial organization of the project promotes social interactions between the residents and strengthens their feeling of safety and security in their current situation.

The project design is based on a permanent steel structure, security skin, open ďŹ&#x201A;oor plans, and compact dwelling units (includes bed, working desk, and storage)that can be installed on site according to changing demand. Shared amenities, such as laundry, storage, showers, restroom, and kitchen facilities are distributed along various levels. Differentiated from sprawling â&#x20AC;&#x153;tent citiesâ&#x20AC;?, the Hopetel is centered on a minimum footprint vertical density housing solution, which can be adopted in city centers with limited development space. Furthermore, this proposal highlights the foreclosure homeless problem by presenting a transparent building that encourages communication with the surrounding and creates public consciousness.