Wearable Space

Soft Sustainable Habitation Prototype for Homelessness A Study of Multi-scaled Patterns, Collage Clothing, and Elastic Joints

Shan Lu Professor Nina INT 703 MFA Thesis May 1, 2020 1

To improve homelessness and pollution caused by fast-fashion clothing. Discarded clothing and scraps are sewn, woven, or knitted to create large clothes as raw materials for making wearable habitation and spaces.

Three strategies: Multi-scaled Patterns, Collage Clothing, and Elastic Joints are inspired by the process of making fabrics and clothing.

The site is threaded geometric body. Columns and beams are skeleton that is warped by fabric spatial elements.

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ABSTRACT The thesis proposal will explore the merging of two issues: homelessness and pollution caused by fast-fashion clothing. Homelessness is an expanding crisis due to poverty and inequality. AHAR shows that there are more than sixty thousand homeless people in New York City, and about forty percents of them are homeless families with children. People buy and discard tons of clothing and textiles every year. However, clothing is hard to recycle. About eighty percent of discarded clothing ends up in landfills, which causes pollution problems. The thesis proposes to make wearable habitation for homeless people by reusing discarded clothing and other fabrics.

This proposal is a study of sustainable habitation prototypes for homeless people with three strategies: Multi-scaled Patterns, Collage Clothing, and Elastic Joints. Discarded clothing and scraps are sewn, woven, or knitted to create large clothes as raw materials for making wearable habitation and spaces. Multi-scaled patterns shift the concept of clothing patterns and weave structure to space organization patterns. Collage clothing means not only rejoining discarded fabrics but also applying fabrics with different properties to different types of interior walls as cladding. It also takes advantage of the transparency and intimacy given by fabrics. Elastic joints were inspired by knitting and its elastic property, which are extended to space and construction. The thesis studies how elastic joints change lighting effect, circulation, and how it connects fabric claddings. The three strategies derived from making fabrics and were developed to strategies of making spaces.

Based on the two issues of homelessness and fast fashion pollution, the site of the project is in the Garment District between Port Authority Bus Terminal and Pennsylvania Station, where increasing homeless people are gathering, and many shelters are located. The view outside windows and exterior elevation look like collages, which inspires the interior color palette. The grids of columns, beams, and windows create three-dimensional warp and weft, which allows multiple spaces to weave in between them. Visual lines and circulations work as threads that connect spaces. The scale of wearable habitation is enlarged to the scale of wearable space where the geometry of the site is like the body and skeleton that is warped by fabric spatial elements like foldable carpet, adjustable curtains, fabric cladding, and elastic joints.

I assume FABSCRAP and WIN cosponsor the project. The program includes showrooms displaying wearable habitation prototypes created by discarded clothing for homeless people to pick up for free, and spaces for them to do laundry, haircutting, showering and resting. It also includes a residential area for vulnerable homeless women and children, and a workshop, which is a microeconomy, where homeless women fabricate the wearable habitation and return to society.

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TWO ISSUES Homelessness

Fast-fashion Pollution

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THREE STRATEGIES

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Multi-scaled Pattern

Clothing Pattern

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Collage Clothing

Quilting

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Elastic Joints

Knitting

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BAISC PRINCIPLE SPACE AS THREADED GEOMETRIC BODY

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WEARABLE HABITATION Precedents Sleeping Bag Dress by  Ana Rewakowicz

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Precedents Wegocity:Tailor made housing

Japanese Boro

YSL Museum

Kimono Cutting Pattern

Weave Structure

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Case Study Gifu Kitagata Apartment Building

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Case Study The Showroom Interior for Kettal by Patrica Urquiola’s

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Space Pattern

Clothing Pattern

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2 COLLAGE CLOTHING Models

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2 COLLAGE CLOTHING

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3 ELASTIC JOINTS Models

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3 ELASTIC JOINTS Adjustable Space

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SITE SELECTION Overlap between Homelessness and Fashion Industry

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SITE AREA Garment District

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SITE LOCATION 520 8th Avenue, Manhattan 10018

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SITE SNAP Site Exterior Elevation

View from Inside of the Building Looking Out

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PROGRAM Showroom Display wearable habitation

Workshop Produce wearable habitation

Residence Homeless mother with children use wearable habitation

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WEARABLE HABITATION Prototype 1

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WEARABLE HABITATION Prototype 2

Japanese Boro

Prototype 2

Kimono Cutting Pattern

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WEARABLE HABITATION Models

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WEARABLE HABITATION Prototype 4

For Homeless Mother with Children Living on the second Floor

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SPACE AS THREADED GEOMETRIC BODY

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PROGRAM VOLUMES

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COMMUNAL AREA ON THE FIRST FLOOR Multi-scaled Pattern

In the Daytime

At Night

LOBBY HAIRCUTTING

CAFE

WORKSHOP

SHOWROOM

Showroom & Workshop

Temporary Sleeping Area for Homeless People 27

1 FLOOR FURNITURE PLAN With Folded Carpets In the Daytime

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1 FLOOR PLAN With Unfolded Carpets At Night

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1 FLOOR PLAN With Unfolded Carpets At Night

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1 FLOOR PLAN With Unfolded Carpets and Habitation Installed At Night

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PRIVATE VOLUMES ON THE SECOND FLOOR Collage Clothing

OFFICE

SHOWER KITCHEN

RESIDENCE

MEETING

CLASSROOM

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ADJUSTABLE BOUNDARY Elastic Joints

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ADJUSTABLE BOUNDARY Thread Communal and Private Spaces

Boundaries with Foldable Carpet

Boundaries with Solid Fabric Cladding 34

PROGRAM VOLUMES

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1ST FLOOR PLAN With Folded Carpets In the Daytime

LOBBY

HAIRCUTTING

CAFE

WORKSHOP SHOWROOM

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MEZZANINE PLAN

SHOWER

STORAGE

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2ND FLOOR PLAN

DINING SHOWER KITCHEN

RESIDENCE MEETING

CLASSROOM

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1ST FLOOR PLAN With Folded Carpets In the Daytime

OFFICE

CAFE

WORKSHOP

OFFICE

SHOWROOM

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MEZZANINE PLAN

HAIRCUTTING SHOWER

STORAGE

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2ND FLOOR CIRCULATION

DINING SHOWER KITCHEN

RESIDENCE MEETING MEETING

CLASSROOM

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SECTION

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SECTION Lighting Strategies

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Wearable Habitation Cutting Pattern

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Foldable Furniture

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Foldable Carpets’ Patterns

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Residential Space Organization

Weave Pattern

Weave Structure

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1 MULTI-SCALED PATTERN Residential Space For Homeless Mothers with Children

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2 COLLAGE CLOTHING Thread Communal and Private Spaces

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1 5

2

3

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4

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3 ELASTIC JOINTS With Columns

Zipper

Lace up

Snap

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String

Hung

3 ELASTIC JOINTS Used in Wearable Habitation and Spaces

Before

Before

Before

Before

After

After

After

After

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2

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HABITATION SHOWROOM

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Section HABITATION TEXTILE SHOWROOM SHOWROOM Material and Light

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ENTRANCE FOR VOLUNTEERS

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WORKSHOP

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CAFE

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ENTRANCE FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE

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RESIDENCE

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1

Multi-scaled Pattern

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3

Collage Clothing

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Elastic Joints

Be

B

Af

A

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Space as Threaded Geometric Body

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