Social Tension

Abstract

Homelessness is a prolonged crisis in Seattle, and the number of individuals unhoused on the streets has continued to rise despite strong efforts by city leaders and members of the public. When resources are limited all attempts to address homelessness are forced to prioritize between addressing long-term structural issues of housing affordability and the humanitarian disaster on the streets of the city. Homelessness is a compound problem with multiple causes and no single solution. Inherently rooted in modes of perception and cultural concepts of poverty, the way the city experiences and understands poverty can be a crisis in itself. This thesis proposes a concept for emergency housing that can address social issues and physical need, both for the immediate crisis and the underlying systemic problems. To do so it observes the existing transitional encampment system in Seattle and develops a structure that dorresponds to the encampment system’s operational mode, social environment, and physical context.