TITLE PAGE

Dissertation

DISSERTATION

PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE: SOLUTION FOR

HOMELESSNESS

By
VIBHOR AGRAWAL
IVth year

1608881076

Supervised by

AR. SEEMA KHARBANDA

Vibhor Agrawal

APEEJAY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

GREATER NOIDA
DECEMBER, 2020-21
 Second page

APEEJAY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

GREATER NOIDA

RAR 808 Dissertation

PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE: SOLUTION FOR

HOMELESSNESS

Name of the Candidate: Vibhor Agrawal

Enrolment No: 1608881076
B. Arch. 4th Year

Guide: Ar. Seema Kharbanda

Internal Examiner External Examiner

Director
 APEEJAY SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNIN G
GREATER NOIDA

CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION

I VIBHOR AGRAWAL hereby declare that the work which is being presented in
the Dissertation entitled "PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE: SOLLUTION FOR
HOMELESSNESS" is an outcome of my own research and free from plagiarism

It is my original work except where explicitly stated otherwise in the text and has not
been previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate
of this or any other university. I have duly acknowledged all the sources used by me
in the preparation of this Dissertation.

Vibhor Agrawal
 CHAPTER – 01

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND
Responses to Homelessness in Urban Context

As long as there have been cities, there have been people dwelling in the streets, paths, and
corners of the cities. These people make their homes where most of us would never dream of
resting our heads, nor consider surviving on the same diet and means of getting a food.
Homelessness is also one of the oldest social problems in the world. The simple fact is that
there have always been those members of society that survive this way. There have also always
been those who trying hard to nursing for these forgotten people.

large urban communities towards improving instructive, private, and social spaces, there is an
absence of acknowledgment for the individuals who can't stay aware of the quick movement
of industrialist life.

For every 10,000 people in the country, 17 are facing homelessness. About two- thirds (65%)
were staying in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, and about one- third
(35%) were remain unsheltered.

PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE
The parasite can be explained as an organism who fed from the host on which it is located. In
architecture this statement can be described as, using a building structure as a base or surface
through joining it as a flexible and temporary structure. which is attached to an existing
building.

REPRESENTATION OF PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE TO

ACCOMMODATE HOMELESSNESS
• Parasitic architecture is probably inspired by creepers which are parasitic plants as they
survive by getting help from other plants. it has nothing to do with homeless people,
but adjoining structure can works as scaffolding with no access to the existing buildings
and provide shelters to people who live on the street in much worse situations, with this
concept homeless people could have a roof over their heads. It's an idea to simply put
a roof over homeless people's heads using parasitic.
 • The design can be merged into unforeseen spaces formed by the growing new structures
or unused abounded buildings in the historical manner, and it could use the existing
structure as an infrastructure.

CHAPTER – 02

AIM
Unaffordable housing has become global issue, it is becoming more and more difficult for
under privileged people to seek permanent or temporary shelters.

As housing become a means of wealth accumulation rather than fulfilling its original goal of
accommodation, well a few architects have attempted to solve the homeless crisis through
different creative ideas and innovative design solutions.

“But is parasitic architecture really the solution”?

NEED OF STUDY
When we walk through the core of massive cities, down the streets, under the hidden corners
and the dark recessed doorways, we will see people struggling to survive, all they need a roof
or a shelter over their heads for the night. People who are homeless are most often unable to
attain and maintain a regular, safe, secure, and adequate housing. Refugees and homeless
people are most often affected by displacement, lack of safe and adequate housing, and extreme
consequences of poverty. The Current relief assistance model for homeless populations is often
the only separation between homeless people and local communities.

A problem that exists in many situations requires a solution that can be adapted to meet those
conditions. Safety and stability are key elements in establishing and maintaining a path towards
the rebuilding of an independent and self-supporting life.

It is an issue that hurts people, damages communities, so far in most cases it may be prevented.
We need to change our mentalities towards homeless people, they have right to be treated with
a similar regard as any other individual.

Why Traditional Homeless Shelters Do Not Work

A Homeless shelter may deliver a modicum of accommodation; a bed to lie down on, dry and
away from the elements of nature, maybe even a slight feeling of comfort.
Shelters first appeared in the late 1800’s. They were started with good intentions, but they were
started at a time when we understood very little about the homeless phenomena. These shelters
are, for the mostly privately run or typically, by religious organizations and non-profit
organizations with funding coming through donations from government. Others are run and
funded by state and central government.

The conventional homeless shelter is a flawed model in great need of re-assessment.

As one homeless blogger put

“These places, these pockets of hell staffed by well meaning, misguided people; these are the
most degrading, humiliating, stigmatizing places in the world. I’ve never spent the night in
anything called a homeless shelter. I preferred to return to the cold, rather than sit in the pew”
- (Homemaker, 2011)

There are several reasons that many homeless prefer not to utilize the shelters available to them.
These reasons include:

• Danger of rape or assault

• Disease

• Invasive

• Disrespectful check in process

• Separation of family members

• Assumptions about drug use and criminality

• Drug addictions

• Theft

• Religious differences

• Absence of privacy and fear of crowds

• Lack of control

• Lack of available beds.

There are several things that may seem small to the average homed person and may be
unnecessary or “not that big a deal”. But, when you have very little, these become very
important considerations.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• How parasitic architecture can solve homelessness issue?

• How we can achieve parasitic architecture?

• How it impacts on the current built environment?

• Role of Reusable green architecture?

• Design, considerations, and strategies for parasitic architecture?

• What are advantages and disadvantages of parasitic architecture?

SCOPE
Solutions should include affordable housing, along with employment or mainstream benefits
enough to maintain housing stability.

Solutions should also focus on addressing socio-economic concerns regarding homeless people
and finding ways to creatively re-knit the city.

LIMITATIONS
• Whole research is Limited to the urban area and homeless community we are proposing
parasitic treatments.
• This research is limited to the mainly design related problems and solution.
• This dissertation only focusses on the problem of densely populated areas in the urban
context.
 METHODOLOGY

Identification of the topic To formulate the aim,

objective for the study

Understand literature studies

To find out research gap
and case studies to find out
issues

Verification of scope and Conclusion and

limitations recommendations.

CHAPTER – 03

STATISTICS AND FACTS ON HOMELESSNESS:

• GLOBAL STATISTICS
Fig. 2008 Population Living Below National Poverty Line

Living below to the poverty line is a worldwide trend that exist in almost every nation.
Although the poverty line differs from nation to nation, every country has citizens living below
the poverty level. Developed nations have no more than 20 percent of total population who are
living below the poverty level while developing and underdeveloped countries have anywhere
between greater than 20 to 60 percent of total population who are living below the poverty
level. Given the fact that the poverty is leading cause of the homelessness, there should be the
homeless citizens exist in every nation however not all citizens who live below the poverty line
experience the homelessness.

2005 World Homeless Population 2015 World Homeless Population

1.5

21.9

78.1
98.5

100 Million Homeless 1.6 Billion Homeless

6.3 Billion Non-Homeless 5.7 Billion Non-Homeless
The homelessness is a problem which is happening around the world. In 2005, it was estimated
that there was about 100 million homeless people around the world. In 2015, it is estimated to
be about one fifth of the world population experienced homelessness at any give night. In
decade, the world homeless population gained 1600%. The current estimates indicate that there
may be 100 million children living in the streets. It is known fact that the death rate is 2 to 10
times higher among homeless than those who are not homeless due to their living conditions
and an expected 33% of worldwide deaths are linked to poverty and inadequate housing. The
actual number of the homeless population must be higher than the data gathered by
organizations because there is no accurate way to count the homeless people.

Many homeless are forced to live in overcrowded conditions with no running water or
electricity, surrounded by garbage and excrement, without protection from dangerous weather,
and with no bed to rest on. Often they have little or no food to eat and nowhere to wash or
defecate. Homeless people are often subject to constant harassment, discrimination, and
victimization.

• UNITED STATES STATISTICS

2005 US Homeless Population 2015 US Homeless Population

Sheltered V/S Unsheltered

0.2
30.7

69.3
99.8

564 Thousand Homeless 173,268 Unsheltered

319 Million Non-Homeless 391,440 Sheltered

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness statement, there are about 565
thousand homeless people (0.2% out of the total U.S. population) in the United States as of
2015. Most of homeless people (69.3%) are sheltered while some homeless (30.7%) are stay
unsheltered. 8% of the homeless are veterans while 50% of the homeless are over the age of
50. 15% of the U.S. homeless population are considered chronically homeless meaning those
are the population with individuals who have a disability and have experienced homelessness
for a year or longer.

The stigma of homeless people is that they are misconceived as the substance user which
caused them to become the homeless, but the poverty is the actual leading cause of
homelessness for many years. One eighth of the nation’s supply of low-income housing has
been permanently closed and repurposed since 2001 making hard for low-income families to
get affordable houses

HOUSING AFFORDABILITY IN US

To afford a two-bedroom flat apartment in the U.S. a person needs, on average annual salary
of $39,360 or a full-time occupation with an hourly pay of $18.92 or 2.6 full-time jobs at least
income. The estimated yearly income of low-income tenant in the U.S. is $33,028.

According to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition report in 2016, the U.S. has a
deficiency of 7.2 million cheap rental units meaning that there were only 31 affordable units
for rent are available for every 100 extremely low-income renter households.

Homelessness among Older and Elderly Adults age between 50 ~

64

2010 44172

2020 58772

2050 95000

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000

Column1 Column2 Column3

Fig. 2010 ELDERLY HOMELESS POPULATION AND PREDICTION

Here were 44,172 elderly homeless people (age between 50 ~ 64) in 2010. A study predicts
that there will be increase in the elderly homeless population by 2020 (58,772) and almost
doubling the number of population (95,000) by 2050. According to the report which was
prepared by the U.S. department of Housing and Urban Development.

• INDIA STATISTICS

Homelessness in India

The Census of India 2011 defines 'houseless household' as, 'households who do not
live-in buildings or census houses but live in the open on roadside, pavements, in Hume
pipes, under flyovers and staircases, or in the open in places of worship, mandaps,
railway platforms, etc.'.

According to the Census of 2011, India has more than 1.7 million homeless residents,
of which 938,384 are in urban areas. These figures, however, grossly underestimate the
real numbers of the homeless. Civil society organizations e stimate that at least one per
cent of the population of urban India is homeless. Based on this, it can be extrapolated
that the population of the urban homeless is at least 3 million. In the capital city of
Delhi alone, at any given point, civil society estimates place the number of homeless
at around 150,000 - 200,000, of which at least 10,000 are women. India also has the
highest number of street children in the world but there is no official data on their
numbers or adequate schemes to respond to their special needs and concerns.

Estimated Number of Homeless People in Different Cities across India

• Delhi: 150,000 - 200,000

• Chennai: 40,000 - 50,000
• Mumbai: 200,000 (including Navi Mumbai)
• Indore: 10,000 - 12,000
• Vishakhapatnam: 18,000
• Bangalore: 40,000 - 50,000
• Hyderabad: 60,000
• Ahmedabad: 100,000
• Patna: 25,000
• Kolkata: 150,000
• Lucknow: 19,000
[Source: Independent estimates from organizations working on homelessness]

The Statistics
India is the second most unequal country in the world, with 55 percent of income going to the
top 10 percent of its population. Since India’s population increased exponentially, many cities
ran out of space to contain the growing population. According to the Homeless World Cup,
there were about 1.8 million homeless individuals living in India as of 2019. Over half of this
population was living in urban areas, such as slums on the edge of cities. Unfortunately, the
majority of the homeless people often experience displacement through government-endorsed
city beautification programs or by natural disasters. Due to their lack of resources, those who
are homeless and poor struggle to recover from these events.
There is a shortage of 18.78 million houses in the country. Total number of houses has
increased from 52.06 million to 78.48 million (as per 2011 census).

More than 90 million people in India make less than US$1 per day, thus setting them below
the global poverty threshold.

2011 India Homeless Population

0.13

99.8

1.8 Million Homeless

1.298 Billion Non-homeless

Figure: According to the Census of 2011, India

Causes

Homelessness is in part a direct result of families migrating from rural to urban cities and
urbanization. Migration to urban areas can occur for a variety of reasons ranging from loss of
land, need for sustainable employment, lack of clean water and other resources, and in some
cases like the Bargi Dam Project, loss of all property and complete displacement. Once
reaching cities, homeless attempt to create shelters out of tin, cardboard, wood, and plastic.
Slums can provide an escape, yet individuals often cannot afford them.

India is the second most populous nation in the world, with more than 1.2 billion people (UN
Habitat, 2019). Its rapidly rising population is adding to the existing problems of poverty,
homelessness, and unemployment (NPTEL, 2013). It is estimated that by 2030, 60 million
people will be living in Indian cities, meaning there will have to be one Chicago built every
year to house them (UN Habitat, 2019).

ISSUES WITH SERVICES FOR HOMELESS

THE RISK OF BEING HOMELESS

People who were unfortunate to secure the space in a shelter because it reached its full capacity
have no choice but stay in the street. Those homeless people are exposed to the risk of being
under arrest because of the local government policy restricts anybody to even stand on the
street not conducting criminal activities. The number of homeless is increasing each year due
to the economic hardship but the infrastructure where they can get assists is disappearing little
by little.

nearly half of the homeless population either choose or forced to stay unsheltered because they
could not get the space at the local shelter or they did not want to spend a night in the shelter.
It is dangerous to be on the street. The homeless people are exposed to crimes and often
victimized in the street.

crimes against homeless are gone unreported. So why some homeless people choose to stay
out of the street despite the fact that the government set up the system to assist them? Shelters
have problems and the news medias are rarely reporting these problems because, simply put,
nobody cares.

The homeless people are just like us. They feel happy when good things happen and feel sad
when bad things happen. Anyone can easily become homeless, but it is hard to revert back to
the normal life once you get trapped in the homeless situation.

SHELTER SERVICES

There are not a lot of option for the homeless people to choose when it comes down to getting
a shelter to spend a night. There are shelters that operate by the government or shelters that
operate by the private organizations such as religious groups. Individuals, who are not
homeless, might conclude that the homeless people have plenty of shelters that they can check
themselves into and stay off from the street. The same individuals see the homeless people on
the street and wonder why are they not go to the shelter instead of asking for help here?

Public shelters are the government’s cheapest way to serve homeless, but they are the most
ineffective and problematic. Most shelters only provide beds and nothing else. The homeless
people need to check in and out daily.

GOVERNMENT CLAIMS

The government claims that the supportive housing is the most effective solution for the
homelessness. In theory, the supportive housing should work flawlessly but the reality is
different than what the government is claiming. The supportive housing works similar as a
shelter but unlike the shelter, the supportive housing provides rooms to the homeless people.
The supportive housing does not require daily check in, but the homeless people are required
apply for the room and they can stay in the designated space up to 6 months. When the homeless
person gets into the supportive housing, he will be also assigned to a case worker who knows
the information such as a job opportunity so the case worker can assist the homeless people to
get back on their feet quickly. So, what could be the possible problem with this fool proof
system? The case workers are assigned to too many homeless people and before they realize,
they have piles of paperwork that they must deal with and while the case workers are dealing
with papers, some homeless people are gone unassisted. There are too many homeless people
for not enough case workers.

The shelters are always overcrowded and most often infested with bed bugs and roaches. The
public shelters separate the male and female population due to a security reason so if a family
checks into a public shelter, they will be separated even though they are family.

The homeless shelters sometime deny the service to certain people such as transgenders or
females who they think would misbehave in the shelter. These shelters deny services to the
homeless people who do not meet the eligibility requirement such as a homeless person who
does not have an addiction problem cannot check into the shelter operates only to the homeless
with addiction problems even if the room is available. Then there are reports of the homeless
people stealing belongings from each other.
The private shelters that function properly and work in the favour on the homeless people are
hard to find. There are very limited number of private shelters operate by various organizations
and the private shelters usually have higher eligibility requirements than the public shelters.
The shelters that operate by religious organizations ask for the change of faith if the homeless
person does not believe the same religion. Family shelters mostly accept a mother with children
but not a father with children.

OTHER OPTIONS

Even though it is illegal for the homeless people to set up their own shelters in any public or
private lands in any states but sometime these shelters are constructed on the public and private
properties because the homeless people have nowhere to go and they are desperate to get a
shelter. Once the property owner notices the presence of illegal shelters, everything will be
demolished, and homeless people will be forced off from the property.

EXAMPLE

Skid Row in Los Angeles, California is filled with people who settled their tents on the streets.
Even though the streets are considered as the city property, those tents are considered as a
residence allowing the homeless people to stay on the street. The Atlanta - based non-profit
organization named “The Mad Houser’s” builds shelters for the homeless people on a private
property without the property owner’s agreement or knowledge. The Houser’s provide a
temporary shelter which cost around $500 dollar to build. These shelters last until the property
owner is notified and demolished the shelter.

Nearly half of the Georgia homeless population choose or forced to stay unsheltered because
of the current shelter conditions. They seek shelters in any place they can hidden from the eyes
of other people such as abandoned buildings and vehicles or on the dark streets, underneath the
street bridges, and parks. However, it is not only illegal but extremely dangerous to spend a
night in any of those places. The street is not friendly to anybody. It provides no protection
from any inclement weathers and the homeless people are exposed to crimes and often
victimized in the street.

Abandoned buildings and vehicles might provide some protection from extreme weathers but
the homeless people are still exposed the threat of possible violence situations. People can also
report the homeless to the police whenever people find them living in the abandoned buildings
or vehicles then the homeless people have no choice but either move to the different place or
go to jail.

When we see the homeless people on the street, we wonder the reason of homeless people
actively stay out of the shelter system and quickly jump to the conclusion that it must be the
individual’s fault to not taking advantage the help that is provided to them for free with
taxpayers’ money. However, people rarely know that these shelters are uninhabitable. Public
shelters are often infested with bed bugs and roaches, fights constantly break out between the
homeless people and thefts committed by the other homeless, and shelters are overcrowded
most of the time.

The current system that the government provides is a broken system that harms the homeless
people. The system is designed to keep them hidden from the view of general population and
it solves nothing. Private cares work but they are not prepared and equipped to handle the large
number of homeless people. No property owners want illegal shelters built on their properties
because they bring down the value of the property and there are safety concerns.

CONCLUSION

CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS

Two trends are largely responsible for the rise in homelessness over the past 20-25 years: a
growing shortage of affordable rental housing and a simultaneous increase in poverty.

HOUSING

A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have
contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness.

Since 2000, the incomes of low-income households have declined as rents continue to rise
(National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2005). In 2009, a worker would need to earn $14.97
to afford a one-bedroom apartment and $17.84 to afford a two-bedroom apartment. There has
been an increase of 41% from 2000 to 2009 in fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit,
according to HUD (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2009).

The lack of affordable housing has led to high rent burdens (rents which absorb a high
proportion of income), overcrowding, and substandard housing. These phenomena, in turn,
have not only forced many people to become homeless; they have put a large and growing
number of people at risk of becoming homeless.

POVERTY

Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked. Poor people are frequently unable to pay for
housing, food, childcare, health care, and education. Difficult choices must be made when
limited resources cover only some of these necessities. Often it is housing, which absorbs a
high proportion of income that must be dropped. If you are poor, you are essentially an illness,
an accident, or a pay check away from living on the streets.

In 2007, 12.5% of the U.S. population, or 37,300,00 million people, lived in poverty. The
official poverty rate in 2007 was not statistically different than 2006 (U.S. Bureau of the
Census, 2007). Children are overrepresented, composing 35.7% of people in poverty while
only being 24.8% of the total population.

Two factors help account for increasing poverty: eroding employment opportunities for large
segments of the workforce and the declining value and availability of public assistance.

CONCLUSION

Homelessness results from a complex set of circumstances that require people to choose
between food, shelter, and other basic needs. Only a concerted effort to ensure jobs that pay a
living wage, adequate support for those who cannot work, affordable housing, and access to
health care will bring an end to homelessness.

CHAPTER - 04

LITERATURE STUDIES

1. Design: paraSITE units

Designer: Michael Rakowitz

Location: United States, ovenia

Year: 1997 – 2011

A series of inflatable shelters for homeless people that only can operate when attached to
heating or ventilation vents of buildings. The air from the building simultaneously inflates and
heats their double-membrane structures. The name of the project emphasises the relationship
of the parasite that uses the energy of a host.
Rakowitz designed the paraSITE units in collaboration with the homeless people that would
use them meeting their requirements and were built using temporary materials available on the
streets, such as plastic bags and tape. The units are easy to transport.

Issues in design

• Storage space is not available.

• Privacy is compromised.
• Can’t stand in harsh weather condition

2. Design: A-Kamp47

Designer: Stéphane Malka

Location: Marseille, France

Type: Logements

Area: 23 unites habitations

Year: 2013
Stéphane Malka's design, named A-Kamp47, includes homeless people and urban travelers.
The tent-shaped accommodation units are mounting the factory wall, like an ivy, in an
industrial part of Marseilles. Malka, by criticizing the promise of the French state about
universal housing, chooses to make the interpretation through an architectural product which
is resolved in minimal scale and located around the truss system. Thus, by producing a
discourse on the global housing crisis, design criticizes the situation in which the market cannot
afford the entire humanity. The truss system, which constitutes a structure for the
accommodation units, is fixed to the factory surface and each unit is covered with a heat-
insulated material. In the project, the dimensions of the living area are radically reduced to the
minimum. A simple, light and easy-to-install design is considered, instead of a tendency of
architecture to develop long-term and costly spaces. The accommodation unit can be used both
as a temporary or semi-permanent residence and as a shelter for homeless people.

Onsite Situation

The actual camp is composed of 23 camouflaged tents mounted onto the scaffolding of a
graffiti-covered wall. Each tent, except one, is large enough for two people and contains
thermal blankets and storage space. The project was named after the AK-47, which is a
reference to the gun and drug problems of the city. Clustered together, the tents help protect
each other, shield the wind and providing warmth. Access to the insides of the tents is gained
via the scaffolding in the background.
 3. Design: Sleeping Pods

Designer: James Furzer

Location: London, UK

Area: 6 m2

Year: 2015

Background

James Furzer's design of Sleeping Pods, which is adjoined external side of the structure, has
been put forth at the sixth "Space for New Visions" competition and announced as the best
solution for the homeless. The designs in the competition were evaluated in view of user
comfort, environmental impact, functionality, and natural light.
About the design

Furzer's proposal was focuses on creating a design of shelter for homeless people in London
harbouring. Each of the wooden shelters are light weight structure and has a sleeping platform
and a foldable seating element. This design is called 'parasitic sleep divisions', which aim to
create shelters and to be attached to the outer wall of existing buildings in the capital with the
aim of protecting homeless from hard and unpredictable weather conditions. These volumes,
which also have a steel frame, can be produced from unused materials for the purpose of
lowering the production cost and can be adapted according to the colour of the existing
structure. Accessing to these shelters which will be located above the street level will be
possible with the help of a staircase. when the staircase is not in use, it will be stored in the
volume.

Construction

Each pod comprises two steel frame sections that attach to a wall at two points each and then
hold the structure together and in place. By raising the pods high enough, they can be installed
above pavements and clear of pedestrian head-height. Access would be provided by way of
ladders.

Services

Furzer explains that no toilet facilities have been included in the design, with the pods intended
only to be a place to sleep and for providing temporary warmth, not as a permanent residence.
They are designed to be simple, for quick construction and to be easily attached to any wall.

4. Design: Homed

Designer: Framlab
Place: New York, America

Year: 2015

Background

Based in Oslo and New York, design agency Framlab has developed a project,
named Homed, aimed to give a solution to the problems of thousands of homeless people
living in the city. Homed originates from the idea that the very same verticality of New York’s
buildings can provide a new “operating space” in the form of the blank sidewalls of buildings
that emerge and disappear as new developments come and go, thus providing hundreds of acres
of available “land”.

In Framlab’s proposal, architecture recovers its sense of purpose, providing a creative solution
to real issues by the means of an experimental project.

About the design

The idea is to take advantage of vertical mass of New York’s buildings by combining a
lightweight “scaffolding-like” load-bearing structure, attached to the blank external walls of
existing buildings, with assembled and modular housing units.
It is a fascinating design which fits into the definition of “parasite architecture”, namely an
architecture that “occupies” a building, often abandoned or underused, remaining a separate
entity yet establishing a functional relationship with it.

Formation of concept

The housing units of Homed – shaped as hexagonal prismatic pods – are designed to connect
to the load bearing scaffold structure and arranged in a honeycomb-like shape to create an
additional, active layer on the blank wall of a building. This way, the units form clusters of
micro-neighbourhoods of shelters.

Framlab's Homed project suggests that homelessness has increased substantially in New York
since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The project offers safe, clean, and comfortable spaces
for the homeless, considering the thought that the city's housing areas are full. This project is a
proposal to take advantage of the vertical areas in the city, criticizing the exhaustion of the
space in urban cities like New York City and the high cost of existing housing areas. Hexagon-
shaped housing modules become an active second layer on the empty walls by adjoining the
existing surfaces of the city, thus forming a micro-neighborhood.

Construction and Materials

Wood covered organic forms created by 3D printing technology provide a warm interior while
the exterior construction of steel and oxidized aluminum stand with urban conditions. 3D
printing technology enables to obtain infinite spatial and functional needs in interior space,
expanding the space, integrating furniture, storage, lighting, and devices into a hexagonal
shape. Thus, a minimal space is created that makes the exterior scenery a hexagon view,
designed according to specific needs and desires.

Design Modules
 COMPRATIVE ANALYSIS

Relationship
Adjoining to
Recommended Realization with the Form and
User the Existing Accessibilit
Life Cycle Status Existing Material
Structure y
Structure

Inflatable From
1. Defined Temporary Experienced Adjoined Flexible
structure Outside the
Structure
paraSIT
E units Plastic
membrane

From
Structural Outside the
Defined Permanent Experienced Adjoined Amorphous
2. Relationship Structure
A-KAMP
47 Steel
Structure
and Tensile
Membrane
System

From
Structural
3. Defined Permanent Suggestion Adjoined Static Outside
Relationship
SLEEPING the
PODS Structure

Wood, Steel

Suggestion Structural From

4. Defined Permanent Adjoined Static Outside the
/Concept Relationship
HOMED Structure

Plastic,
Aluminium,
Glass
Materials used

The pods or shelters are intended to be made on a low spending plan with the material
applications being of a variable sort. the expenditure of the pod was attempting to be kept to a
minimum. The simple interior material choice offers a warm, dry, and comfortable
environment for homeless people to stay.

CHAPTER - 05

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The Impact

These projects are intended to address the rapid effect of homelessness within the urban cities
and eventually worldwide. The concept of parasitic architecture to accommodate homelessness
did not states that it would resolve the homeless issue and prevent homelessness completely.
But it could be one step forward in helping the homeless. Not curing it.

Issues & Challenges

Yes, there are some environmental issues to address, social issues and several structural issues
to look at, however it is a step forward towards resolving the shelter issue of homeless people.
These pods will not be randomly placed and located. Their positioning should be carefully
thought through and considered. Some main concerns are mentioned below:

• Planning issues
• Structural constraints and concerns
• ventilation issues
• Political and social issues
• Ownership and maintenance.

Inferences to urban homeless problem

• Economical to construct, Efficient use of space, Socially inclusive. Parasite architecture

seems to be a upright solution to the homelessness facing many cities.
• But it could arise legal issues or other problems?
 • Ownership, leasehold, and land and air rights will have to be significantly reconsidered
to support parasitic architecture.
• However, parasite architecture might be seen as a "comprehensive" solution to urban
problems.
• These structures are base of innovation to highlight issues of high rents, lack of space
and homelessness issue.
• These projects, and many more such projects, can force to rethink priorities and
traditional dogma. And current built environment.
• Such projects might also even force to rethink legislation.

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