Community Service Initiative:
Better Bed for the Homeless in Petaling Street, Chinatown Kuala Lumpur
E-Journal
In a team of 6, our group is required to work together to propose an idea that could enhance the community value of different socio-economic status and social groups by creating a better living amenities for vulnerable community, whereas in our case, our target group is the homeless community. By integrating the architectural, culture, and environmental values as a whole, we would propose to create a temporary shelter under a bridge or flyover for this target group, as this is a way to allow them to have a temporary shelter that does not interrupt other people on the street and in the meanwhile, they can have their private space.
At the beginning of this project, our team has decided to look into the community in Petaling Street, Chinatown Kuala Lumpur as it is also our site for Design Studio 5, so we have a pre-understanding about this site and it is easier for us to tackle the issue.
Petaling Street was once a vibrant community which its identity is always full with business opportunities. However, it has come to the point that the cultural identity of this place has faded due to the original community has no longer been living in Petaling Street and substituted by the influx of foreign workers who started to make a living there. Hence, the pattern of practices and traditions of the original community has changed. The original local community started to move out from the place and come back for the purpose of their business or paying visit to the temples in there. However, there is always a group of community that owns a lower financial status. They may have a job, but due to the high rental fee of the site and low pay of their job, they have lost the choice of staying in a better environment, so they got to live at the backlanes and five foot way along the shophouses that have easy access to water and close to their working places.
From this project, we have tried to integrate some ideas or programmes to tackle with the problems of the place and analyse critically to find out a solution as a product of life enhancement for this homeless community. During the brainstorming and discussion session with our tutor, Ms Ann, our group has come out with a few possible sites which are located under the flyover as they can have their living there and do not affect others in the meanwhile because the spaces are not used by anyone. After that, we start to develop a deeper comprehension about the practicability of this proposal. During the face to face session with Ms Ann, our group has decided to use salvaged or cheap materials that can be easily gotten. Only by this way, we can carry out a practical project and give thought to provide a better living environment to the homeless community.
Contribution to this project:
Week 1: Selection of site: Petaling Street, compatible with the site of Design Studio V as we had a basic understanding on this site, easier to tackle the critical issues of the community.
Week 2: Observation and analysis of the homeless community of their living spots and conditions, then had an interview session with the homeless in order to have a better understanding to solve or improvise their situation, implementing the value of humanity.
Week 3: Suggesting the possible site to carry out this project (under the bridge or elevated place in the backlane), where these places do not intrude the public spaces.
Week 4: Proposing the salvaged or cheap materials (reinforced plastic sheets and wire mesh sheets), reinforcing the idea of 'self-healing' materials as these materials can be tied together once they turn frail other than the advantage of easily gained, giving the value of sustainability.
Week 5: Revising the choices of sites, identified backlane space is not so appropriate as it serves as a service lane for firefighting and other purposes, and hence, decided to choose the site under the bridge.
Week 6: Suggesting the significance and objectives of doing this project in the proposal to further enhance its impacts on the community.
Week 7: Face-to-face discussion with Ms Ann about our design, suggesting a simplified version of it, so that it is more portable as the homeless community practises a 'nomad' lifestyle. Then, we made a prototype of the hammock.
Week 8: Giving ideas on the presentation board so that it portrays our ideas, and refinery of the hammock to enhance the strength of it based on the spots that cannot bear with too much loads.
Conclusion: This module has prepared me a real life situation in the community programme, and a chance to portray the value of humanity and caring towards the weaker community in the city of Kuala Lumpur. I realised that there are actually many underprivileged people out there who have relevantly lower opportunities for a better job to make a better living. Love and affections from the students like us and NGOs can really contribute to this community to further enhance the spirit of a society. I have learnt to be more concerning in this part of community no matter in which part of our country, and trying to take the chance to lend a hand to them when I have the chance and time, fulfilling the obligation and responsibility of being a compatriot that would give care to our nation.
Weekly Progress
