Architecture Construction 3D Printing Design

Homed Concept by Framlab Explores 3D Printed Pods to Address NYC’s Homeless Issues

VoxelMattersNovember 30, 2017

3 minutes read

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Framlab is an Oslo and New York City based creative agency. Fueled by technology and optimism, the studios create objects and spaces for better futures. In its latest conceptual design Framlab looks to 3D printed pods in order to address New York City – and by extension every city’s – homelessness issues.

The explanation for New York’s high homeless population has its roots in the late 1970s. During these years the city turned against the single-room occupancy (SRO) units. These were a form of housing units that once dominated the New York housing market. They accommodated one or two people in individual rooms and were very modest in size. Because of their affordability they played a vital role in providing housing for the city’s poorest. In 1955 changes in the housing code prohibited conversion or construction of new SRO units and at the end of the 1970s there were only a small number of them left. To provide context: the estimated 175,000 SRO units that were eliminated from 1955 on were roughly equivalent in number to New York’s entire public housing system.

Although the situation is incredibly complex, Framlab boils down the steps towards reducing the homeless population to two clear actions: providing more low-income housing and bolstering the housing assistance programs to reduce the eviction rate.

Step one consists in creating less high-end housing for the high-income households and more affordable housing for the low-income households. But, this involves a steep uphill battle – against the city’s powerful real-estate sector. To provide context: Low income households made up 63% of renters in 2011, only 26% of rental units in the city were low-income affordable.

As an intermediate step to reduce the shelter population, the city needs a lot of temporary housing that can enable an effective and sequential reduction of the shelter population. A key challenge in achieving this is competing against the city’s real-estate moguls for the required land to build.

Another consequence of the growth of NYC, is the increase in land prices and the reduction of available land to build on. Although almost every square foot of space in NYC has been claimed and utilized, there still manages to exist an abundant amount of “vertical lots” sitting idle. These are the blank sidewalls of buildings that emerges and disappears as new developments come and go. In aggregate they make up hundreds of acres of available “land”.Homed is a proposal that seeks to capitalize on this “vertical land”. In conjunction with a flexible framework that already exists in the city – scaffolding – hexagon-shaped housing modules are designed to connect to the scaffolding structure, pack densely, and create a second, active layer on top of the empty wall. In aggregate, this forms clusters of suspended micro-neighborhoods of shelters for the city’s least fortunate.

Homed 3D Printed Pods

The unit itself combines a pre-fabricated outer aluminum shell, rugged to handle the wear and tear of the city, with 3D printed polycarbonate interior modules. This technology allows the interior to support any spatial, functional, and stylistic preference the resident may have. Each end is capped with PMMA smart glass, offering transparency and privacy.

Homed 3D printed pods are designed to provide a year-round home for its resident. While the exterior construction of steel and oxidized aluminum deals with the wear and tear of the city, the interior is made up of organic shapes of 3D-printed plastic, that – clad with wood laminate – create a warm and friendly environment. The interior modules are 3D-printed from recyclable bioplastics, offering a much more environmentally friendly and cost-effective assembly than a comparable traditional one.

As equipment, lighting, storage, and furniture – as well as a host of sensors, can be embedded into the module, each space can be tailored to the individual resident, and serve her/his needs and wants. As such, the units are not merely a place for shelter, but a place that can support and improve life. An aggregate, the front face of the Homed units create a cellular mosaic that gives new life to idle building walls throughout the city. Beyond the visual presence, the clusters will be able to foster strong communities within its residents – and with the local hosting neighborhood.