Project Name: In Between Project Type: Homeless Shelter Designer Name: Tan Kwon Chong, Howie Lam Chee Hau |
Introduction:
Kuala Lumpur (KL) has seen rapid economic growth in recent years and this has indirectly resulted in the increase of the cost of living in the city. To some KL urbanites who are earning meagre income and irregular income, it has become increasingly challenging even to rent a space to call a night and rest after a day’s work or activity. Many end up on the streets, living under bridges and public spaces.
Their daily needs, are sometimes provided, subsidised and assisted by the DBKL and several caring Non-Governmental Organisations, but these on-going assistance currently seemed not well structured or organised. DBKL has been providing temporary shelters in the city, but will soon not be sufficient as the number of homeless is on the rise. Various ‘Soup Kitchens’ can only do so much in providing food and other daily needs as they are merely charitable organisation that operates solely from donations and volunteers.
Housing the homeless is not about creating permanent homes for the less fortunate. It is more of creating a conducive transient shelter that could provide the much needed communal temporary relief for the homeless. The design of these temporary shelters should not compromise on the quality of the product or construction techniques. Instead, it should provide good creature comfort, low construction work force requirement to construct, easy and low maintenance and good usage of sustainable building material, environmentally friendly and low energy, durable and capable of lasting. It should definitely test new boundaries of architectural design.
The objective of this ideas competition is also to promote the Malaysian architect fraternity ability in designing for social needs and dispel the general public notion that architects only serve the elites.
Kuala Lumpur (KL) has seen rapid economic growth in recent years and this has indirectly resulted in the increase of the cost of living in the city. To some KL urbanites who are earning meagre income and irregular income, it has become increasingly challenging even to rent a space to call a night and rest after a day’s work or activity. Many end up on the streets, living under bridges and public spaces.
Their daily needs, are sometimes provided, subsidised and assisted by the DBKL and several caring Non-Governmental Organisations, but these on-going assistance currently seemed not well structured or organised. DBKL has been providing temporary shelters in the city, but will soon not be sufficient as the number of homeless is on the rise. Various ‘Soup Kitchens’ can only do so much in providing food and other daily needs as they are merely charitable organisation that operates solely from donations and volunteers.
Housing the homeless is not about creating permanent homes for the less fortunate. It is more of creating a conducive transient shelter that could provide the much needed communal temporary relief for the homeless. The design of these temporary shelters should not compromise on the quality of the product or construction techniques. Instead, it should provide good creature comfort, low construction work force requirement to construct, easy and low maintenance and good usage of sustainable building material, environmentally friendly and low energy, durable and capable of lasting. It should definitely test new boundaries of architectural design.
The objective of this ideas competition is also to promote the Malaysian architect fraternity ability in designing for social needs and dispel the general public notion that architects only serve the elites.
Info:
Project Name: In Between
Project Type: Homeless Shelter
Designer Name: Tan Kwon Chong, Howie Lam Chee Hau
Year: (2014 December)