Yahoo – AFP,
10 July 2014
Bratislava (AFP) - As some European cities install spikes on pavements to prevent homeless people bedding down for the night, one architect in Slovakia plans to give them a proper abode -- made from billboards.
Slovak enviromental activists cover a controversial Slovak Telecom advertising billboard near the High Tatra Mountains at Vazec on June 4, 2004 (AFP Photo/Joe Klamar) |
Bratislava (AFP) - As some European cities install spikes on pavements to prevent homeless people bedding down for the night, one architect in Slovakia plans to give them a proper abode -- made from billboards.
The Gregory
Project uses advertising hoardings, usually placed along roads in a V-shape to
be visible from both directions, to create small but functional homes for the
homeless by adding a third wall and a roof.
Slovak
architect Michal Polacek told AFP he hopes his novel design will "help the
homeless to return to normal life, find a job and eventually find a better
place to stay".
Polacek's
one-bedroom triangular homes include a kitchen and bathroom and are powered by
solar panels or connected to the same network that lights the billboards at
night.
He says the
cost of building the homes can be covered by billboard advertising revenues.
"I was
inspired by a friend who once pointed at a billboard and said 'Hey, I could
live up there!' and also by the desire to help those less fortunate,"
Polacek added.
He has yet
to construct his design but says it is available as a free, open-source
platform for anyone wanting to use it.
The
installation of pavement spikes to stop homeless people sleeping outside a
London building sparked outrage last month, with 40,000 people signing a
petition calling for their removal.
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