Vocational Housing: A Housing Proposal for Hawai'I's Homeless

The increasing homeless population has become a growing concern in the United States. Although homelessness is a perceived as a socially related issue, the research conducted in this document is to understand how architecture and the architect can contribute toward a solution to the problem. Due to the complexity of the subject matter, the majority of the research conducted in this study will focus on the State of Hawai‘i and the residents of the Waianae Coast on the island of ‘Oahu. This proposal will begin with the project statement (Chapter 2), which consists of identifying the problem, stating the project intent, and brief introduction to the methodology of the project. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the proposal of developing an architectural solution to the homelessness problem, as well as, describing the methodology of the DArch process. The next chapter (Chapter 3) summarizes the research component of the project by exploring the social and physical aspects of homelessness. The research conducted in this chapter contains relevant information relating to the project outcome. Chapter 4 consists of a description of the project methodology. This chapter will cover the transition from research to design, influences in the conceptual development, design process and exploration, and conclude with discussions from meetings. Chapter 5 will provide a scenario for the project by introducing three selected sites and describe the proposed concept of a vocational housing program. Chapter 6 introduces six methods of the Zones of Interaction and provides examples for the first three methods. Chapter 7 continues the exploration of the six methods on-site by providing examples of the last three methods. Chapter 8 concludes the document with a summary of the vocational housing program proposal and the DArch project learning experience