Stairway to safety

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This shelter is designed during a workweek in the Estonian capital Tallinn. The location of the design is in an alley at the border of the former Russian military base Tondi. From stories I heard, it appeared that the residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods where afraid to visit this area during night time. This fear had different causes. First of the entire image from daytime e.g. garbage, deserted sleeping places or heroine needles. Besides that there is not enough overview in the alley, they fear the unknown. They want to see what happens behind and in the deserted buildings because they all heard the stories about robberies and shootings in the news.

These fears are the starting point for my design for a temporary but safe shelter. The stairway is an essential element in my design. This staircase creates closure as well as overview over the area. As soon as the stairs are taken in, the hideout is closed. The stairway then can be used to climb towards the top floor, from this point you have a great view across the area. The exterior is made of aluminium to give the shelter a sort of armoured as well as a modern clean feeling. Next to the above mentioned functions the stairs also contains a mobile garbage can that will be used to clean the area around the shelter every day. Because a clean alley makes the visitors feel saver en less afraid.