City Repair Hosts Sleeping-Pod Design Workshop

City Repair is a community organization in Portland that focuses on community culture, permaculture and urban design. They will be hosting the Sleeping Pods Design Workshop, which takes place on October 1 at Mercy Corps from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. For those of you unfamiliar with Sleeping Pods, think tiny homes-and then think tinier" said Kirk Rea, City Repair's Board Vice-President.

These pods will help people experiencing houselessness stay safe and sheltered especially during the upcoming foul weather seasons. People can also store their personal belongings inside them during the day.

The workshop is the collaborative design phase of the project and at least 8 architecture firms are participating. 40 people are expected to attend. The goal of the workshop is to develop prototypes that actually provide shelter for people.

"I'm super stoked for designers to address real world problems. Kudos to PSU's Center for Public Interest Design; nothing makes me happier than seeing creativity put to work in the name of social justice," said Ridhi D'Cruz, City Repair's Associate Director.

In addition to creating and brainstorming about the Sleeping Pods, the workshop is also meant to decentralize skills by empowering people who are unhoused.

"We have and are gonna be involved with this movement for a long time. There's a lot of energy and momentum here. We have three new interns just on the City Repair team. And the Village Coalition, a collaborative group of designers, nonprofits and houseless villages is only growing" said Ridhi D'Cruz.

City Repair is launching their Village Building Convergence 2017 season that will feature a new subprogram specifically for supporting houseless villages. For more information please email info@cityrepair.org and visit our website. Interested in volunteering with City Repair? They have a long list of great community-based projects to choose from.

Image via Ridhi D'Cruz, City Repair