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Deploying Domesticity
by
Jackie Urwin
Shelter is protection: it is the shade of a tree, the safety of a cave, the ephemerality of standing under a storefront awning during a rainstorm. Shelter is often shared, bringing together people otherwise strangers. It is a basic human right, but in an urban landscape, it is a privilege.
In New York City, there are roughly 78,604 people experiencing homelessness. While most are sheltered, the rest find refuge in subway stations, on the steps of a church or other locations unsuitable for human habitation and isolated from society. In order to initiate an immediate remedy to the current housing crisis, a system of shelters must be deployed throughout the city to connect residents to one another and provide housing to those in need.
There are over 700 miles of unused and underdeveloped space beneath New York City’s elevated highways. Partnering with the Department of Transportation, Domesti-Kitis a kit of parts that is deployed beneath these highways. It uses scaffolding as a flexible framework that promotes domestic and urban life. The structure can be modified to accommodate the needs of an individual or family experiencing homelessness, as well as varying highway types. Including urban program alongside this housing, such as a market space, performance space, skate park, public garden, outdoor cinema, food truck, or playground provides the resident with livelihood as well as community. The kit should be disassembled only when there is adequate permanent housing available for everyone experiencing homelessness.Domesti-Kit not only provides needed housing but also an interface between the sheltered and unsheltered New Yorker.