Field trip to Vancouver in 2023

For the seventh time, students of architecture from the Faculty of Building and Conservation and students of interior architecture from the Faculty of Design travelled with their lecturers Dipl.-Ing. Pia Danner, Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Kauertz and Prof. Günter Weber to the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver, Canada, for a practical workshop, the so-called "HAWK Week". This year, the teaching staff of both universities once again put together an unusual and interesting competetive project for the 65 students involved.

The mixed German-Canadian groups with interior design and architecture students from both universities were to design a short-term shelter for homeless people. Homelessness is a real and highly topical issue in Vancouver. At last count in 2020, over 3,600 homeless people can be found on a few blocks on East Hastings Street between Main and Carrall Street. People are living on the pavements there. With the legalisation of some drugs, open street consumption is common. Some aid organisations try to provide food for the people with food trucks. However, this help is far from sufficient. The situation makes everyday life in these areas very difficult for residents and shopkeepers, and for the most part shops have had to close.

To get an idea of the situation before starting the task, the Hildesheim group walked once through one of these "main streets" of East Hastings Street. These five minutes or so left no one cold and sensitised the group. Afterwards, in a conversational exchange, all participants agreed that they had never seen anything like it.

The group focused the design task on social and environmental sustainability. These parameters were to guide the design process and ensure that the final product would meet the needs of the homeless population while promoting environmental protection and innovation.

The goal was to design a short-term shelter where one or two homeless people could find a safe sleeping area with storage facilities. These small mobile buildings were to be placed in the car park of a community centre located near East Hastings Street, so that the residents could use the existing showers and other infrastructure.

Minimising the consumption of resources and waste as design parameter should lead to an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient solution, so only recycled materials were used. The housing modules were to be compact enough to fill a standard parking space to maximise its mobility and adaptability. Even though these units are meant to be a temporary solution for the homeless people, they should be durable, able to withstand different users and weather conditions, and require little maintenance.

At the end of the workshop, a jury of four evaluated the 16 entries. Due to the many valuable ideas and concepts that emerged in the short time, the jury met at great length and in the end awarded three prizes.

The lecturers from BCIT and HAWK agree that this practical workshop was once again very successful and that the students from both countries gained an exciting insight into the working methods of interior design and architecture students from the respective other culture. In addition, the social aspect of the assignment meant that the mixed groups discussed topics far beyond the technical ones.

In addition to the workshop, the German students had the opportunity to visit outstanding buildings and newly developed urban planning projects - such as the Vancouver House by BIG - various university buildings on the campus of UBC (University of British Columbia) or the Audain Museum in Whistler.

Next year, the partnership between BCIT and HAWK will enter its tenth year. The first talks for the anniversary workshop have already started.