Abstract of Our Intervention

The great Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” In an attempt to turn this quote into action, we wanted to help the homeless of Barcelona to feel loved and cared for to get them to become productive assets to the country instead of a burden.

In order to achieve our goal, we planned on building a Piazza that provides the homeless with a place to sleep, work, relax and interact with other people. Initially, we needed a space in which a sufficient flow of people existed in order to help us with the interaction factor. Furthermore, the place also needed to be somewhere the homeless were somehow acquainted with. After a lot of research, we found the perfect place in Barri Gotic. The area had a relatively big number of tourists , University Studentss, and Catalonian visitors as well as a large number of homeless people. It also has a small stage and a number of bicycle stands in which the tourists and visitors use to park their bicycles. We studied the flow of people around the stage and bicycle stands and came up with the shelter’s design. The partitions we came up in the design are a reflection of the density of people in a certain area.

These partitions, or cubicles, can be used by the homeless people as a place to live, use as workspace or even as a performance platform. Socially speaking, the homeless people in Barcelona are considered outcasts by the Catalonians and tourists. One of our goals is to change this saddening fact. We want to form strong social bonds between the homeless people, tourists and the other Catalonians. As a result, we decided to design a place which is eye appealing, to attract people to see it, and efficient to provide the homeless with a shelter and a place they can use to conduct any kind of business at the same time. As an example, some of the homeless people make a living from acting as statues or silent mimes, and therefore can use the cubicles to change their outfits, rest or even as a stage to stand up on and gain physical leverage.

In order for this place to attract the homeless, we needed to further understand their needs. As a result, we studied their behaviour and habits thoroughly. One of the interesting things we noticed was the fact that the homeless frequently used the bicycle stands as a place to sit, sleep, eat, etc. Sleeping between the two metal rods of the bicycle stands provided the homeless with a sense of security. We took that point and started to work on ways to implement it in our new shelter design. The best way to integrate this idea with our new design was to leave the bicycle stands the way they are and add a comfortable texture in between the rods so that the homeless can sleep comfortably. The bike stand has several benefits, including the sense of security that we previously mentioned, and the fact that the homeless can use it as a source of money and social interaction. The homeless can charge tourists for using their bicycle stands and get the chance to interact with all the tourists and Catalonians who wish to use their shelter. This procedure will allow the homeless to gain more self-esteem and a strong feeling of productivity. They will no longer need to beg people for money, as they will be earning it themselves.

In conclusion, we believe this Piazza will help the tourists and Catalonians see a side of the homeless people they never thought existed. It will help them understand that homeless people are not incompetent citizens, but are simply people without homes. There are no better words to describe what we strive to achieve but the words of Mother Theresa:” At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection.”