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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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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