home

In the cold winter months and scotching summer days, the homeless people in the city Toronto stick to the only home they know -- air vents and heating grates that run through the city. As a group, we decided to design for the other 90%, the poor and less fortunate living amongst us.


 * Our Design Idea**

For this design project, we decided to come up with a design that caters to the homeless people of Toronto. Downtown Toronto is littered with sleeping bags belonging to homeless people in the middle of sidewalks, alleyways, over air vents or in building doorways. We started thinking about designing a mobile bed for the homeless. The reason we chose this idea is because of the high number of homeless citizens living among us even in a highly developed modern society like ours. As of 2003, a quarter of Toronto's population still live in poverty. Out of the 552,300 homeless people, 31,985 people stayed in some of Toronto's emergency centers. ([]). Although there are emergency centers offered, and there are shelters, there are still wait lists for the shelters leaving a large number of people sleeping outside.

These statistics are mind-boggling. When people do not have a home they cannot be productive members of society. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, physiological needs (food, clothing & shelter) must be met first of all, otherwise an individual cannot function properly. When people cannot function properly, they are not creating any form of value. They are actually reducing the potential GDP of the country they reside in.

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 * In the long run, it costs the city of Toronto more to have people on the streets homeless than it costs to provide some form of shelter for them.** This is why we decided to focus on SHELTER first, the most basic need of all humans. We focused on Toronto as the target community in which we based our research on.

- The material should be temperature sensitive i.e stay warm in the winter and cool down in the summer. P ossibly, Thinsulate : a t rademark of the 3M Corporation which is a synthetic fiber used in clothing can be used to keep the bed warm and dry in the winter
 * Specifics**

- use solar energy ( charges during the day, heats up at night) - Supported on wheels so it can be mobile along with them and light weight - Comes with a blanket/sleeping bag/coat à The blanket/sleeping bag/coat could be made of Tyvek (trademark of DuPont flashspun high-density polyethylene fibers ) (the white plastic home insulation material) and wool/other synthetic materials - Have a lock or combination code in order to unfold it, therefore no one else can use it but them. We know that homeless individuals have little possessions, and what they have is all that they own.

- The bed is to look like a stretcher bed in terms of the width and height size. - Should have collapsible joints in it that would enable easy transportation by this homeless people
 * Physical Appearance**


 * Research Direction**

As group, our research direction would be towards:

1. If this kind of idea/ technology already exists. 2. How much would it cost to produce each unit of the bed? 3. What are the obstacles we might face in implementing the idea? 4. Are we going to make this design completely free ? and are we going to implement a participatory design approach where the homeless people asssist in developing the bed
 * There are two ways that homeless people can receive these beds, one would be that individuals buy and donate them which would be tax detectable. The second way would be that the homeless would be put to work manufacturing beds and earn their own, they can also continue to work once they receive their bed and they will be financially compensated for their service.


 * NOTES**

The solar panel solution is not realistically possible because solar panels are usually big, bulky, fragile and expensive. We were going to incorporate a solar heating panel for this mobile mattress because in North America and Toronto especially, the temperatures outside at night become unbearably cold. At temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius, it could be fatal to sleep outdoors without some form of heating. The solution to this problem is to provide those who work to create this bed either through the assembly line or joining in participatory design with a solar powered bedside heater. The reason we are going with a solar powered solution instead of an electronic one is because it is more convenient to charge with God given sunlight than to plug the heater to a socket ina building. If the intended users had a building to plug a heater to in the first place, there would not be a need for this solution.

**The beds will definitely be expensive costing lower than $100 a unit. How are the homeless 'users' expected to pay for this?**

The homeless will not only be users but also creators of the bed. They will be made to work for these beds. After they have worked enough to buy one, then they could choose to keep working for cash. It is important to note that these people have no technical expertise or creative skills so of what use could they be in the bed creation? They will be made to perform duties that could easily be taught and mastered. The reason these people are homeless in the first place is because they have no jobs. They will be assigned Assembly line duties, delivery duties, and also earn points when they join us in participatory design. In addition, communities can get together and volunteer to make these beds as well, or they can donate money and purchase one and it will be tax deductible.


 * The homeless people will be made aware of this opportunity by the homeless shelters **

The question of how to get multiple homeless people aware of our design came to mind. The most effective way would be through already existing homeless shelters. Everyday, hundreds of homeless members of society who could not make it in time to be housed by the shelters with limited spaces are turned back away into the streets. These people are the ones who NEED our mobile beds.... (to be continued)

Useful Links http://intraspec.ca/Report_Card_on_Homelessness_in_Ottawa_2004.pdf [] http://www.nupge.ca/news_2006/n17ja06a.htm [] - mobile homeless shelters, This looks more like a small scaled vechical, It's bigger and bulkier than what we are aiming for. http://www.thedesignblog.org/entry/disposable-cardboard-bed-for-homeless-nomads/ http://www.designeroof.com/disposable-bed-by-nikolay-suslov/

Explore why people are homeless in the first place, what are the main issues with this and explore already existing designs Improve on 1 thing people have done before