Tuesday, March 2nd, 2021 | 14:35
Ed Thomas, UK
LA Architect finishes innovative homelessness tackling build initiated by late fashion designer and Max Azria.
In 2012, behind a BCBG Max Azria women’s clothing chain store, a 62 year old homeless man was ruthlessly attacked. Perhaps for Max Azria this was the genesis of his campaigning for homes for homeless people. Builder Danny Moizel told abc7 that these houses would be “earthquake safe, hurricane safe, termite safe, mould proof“.
“Architecture must be used to create a healthy planet & positive change for the masses around the globe…”
Peter Demaria, Architect
The three Max Azria homeless housing projects in Southern California are now built. Peter DeMaria, the primary architect for the projects, claims that “Architecture must be used to create a healthy planet & positive change for the masses around the globe…”
Academics would agree, regularly stating that building design impacts human health. Most of us spending 80% of our time inside buildings, we need to be in buildings designed to improve and not hurt our well-being. A historical example includes the mid-19th Century pavilion design for hospitals, which hoped to improve hospital ward ventilation to help reduce patient mortality.
DeMaria, says: “Society must adjust its moral compass towards homelessness. If we can commit our energies to homeless solutions, with the rigour and intensity applied to finding a COVID vaccine, we can create a realistic strategy to solve this global challenge of inadequate housing and homelessness.”
In the battle to eradicate homelessness with healthy housing, these three projects could become a blueprint for projects globally.