Origami inspires design of cardboard home for street people

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041102/323/f5t02.html


An elderly man takes a nap in a cardboard box

ROME (AFP) - Students at a Rome design school, inspired by origami, have come up with a folding cardboard home for use by street people, the Quasar Institue said.

The relatively lightweight "living box", easy to stow when folded, is made without scissors or glue, Quasar institute director Orazio Carpenzano told AFP, adding that multiple copies would be donated to Caritas and the Sant'Egidio Community, two Catholic charities.

"Obviously this is not a long-term response to the problem of street people," he said. "It just limits the damage, like handing out condoms in populations at risk of contracting AIDS."

Costing around 12 euros (15 dollars), the structure is a long rectangular box big enough to lie down in and tall enough for a child of three to stand in.

The upper surface is inclined, and there is a panel at one end that substitutes for a door.

Cardboard was chosen for its flexibility and a capacity for insulation that is "more effective than a blanket," Carpenzano said.

Sant-Egidio estimates that between 5,000 and 6,000 are homeless in Rome, which has only 2,000 beds in shelters. "The problem is under control compared with Paris or New York, but even one homeless person is a problem," said Sant'Egidio's Guglielmo Tuccinei.

"It's an interesting idea with which to approach those who, for one reason or another, have trouble leaving the street," said Roberta Molina of Caritas Rome.

The cardboard house can also be used for play by children or as a "second skin for those with a wanderer's soul," Carpenzano said.