World Community
Leaf Shelter
The Brief:
The London Olympics and Paralympics are fast approaching and promise to be one of the most popular games in the history of the event, people will be travelling from all over the world to attend the most popular game event. With hotels struggling to house everyone, we have been asked to design an affordable living solution. This can be in the shape of a temporary one-night 'tent' or a more permanent 'micro environment', a solution for a single tenant or community.
EDF is the chosen sponsor for this project. Energy supplying company, brand with strong values and respect for environment. Therefore the design is based on their main principles: solid, sleek, modern, and eco-friendly.
Having all of this in mind another factor that helped to shape the design were consideration of the use after the games. The size of the mini hotel had to increased and mini kitchen area added to the design, for a purpose of helping charity named 'Shelter' to house homeless people for a longer time.
People staying in these mini hotels would experience real Londoners lifestyle, small space to live big world to explore.
Location
Hyde Park seemed as a perfect location, for this particular event, as it is situated in the centre of the london where Olympic spirit lives. It is easy to access and is less than 30 minutes away from the 2012 venue. Hyde Park is one of the greatest and nicest parks in London. It benefits from 625 acres of outdoor space and some lovely cafes, galleries. Offering plenty of space for micro environment. Triangle shaped area located at north east side of the park, near the ‘Marble Arch’ tube station is suggested for this project.
Inspiration for the design form- ‘Leaf’ has been taken from the green environment it is going to be located at- Hyde Park.
Mini-Hotel is practical and environmentally friendly, self powering- electricity is generated by solar panels installed on the roof.
Functional- it has its own suite, and accommodates up to 3 people during the stay.
The Hotel is split into 2 levels, upper level is sleeping area accessible via ladder, and ground level contains mini kitchen area, shower and toilet facilities, sofa-bed is fixed into the wall, some storage space and fold out table. Even the space is small is very functional and plenty of movement area.
