With the rise of the opioid crisis throughout the last 20 years, the populations of people who are experiencing homelessness and people with substance use disorders have overlapped while Boston’s services have stayed divided as primarily housing-oriented or primarily recovery-oriented. I worked for Boston’s Office of Recovery Services and the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics to create design guidelines a for a new overnight homeless facility to be implemented in 2020.
The project took place during both a pandemic and an uprising for racial justice and equity. Working to serve Boston’s vulnerable communities in a time of need was an incredible responsibility. It challenged me to not only reflect individually, but to demand increased empathy from the City’s constituents as well.
In depth research
I started by learning as much as I could about Boston’s existing ecosystem of services. I participated in a neighborhood walkthrough led by community organizers of Mass/Cass (Massachusetts Ave. and Melnea Cass Blvd.), an area of Boston that cares for a large population of people experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders. The walkthrough was attended by local business owners, city officials, and local law enforcement to hear first-hand from community members about how to better serve them.
In addition to qualitative research, I analyzed a databased created by the Boston School of Architecture to quantitatively evaluate the various types and quantities of Boston’s homeless services.
I conducted a plethora of interviews with workers in Boston’s homeless services, recovery services, and overnight services in other cities, such as Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York City.
I organized my research into five categories: people, accessing the space, space layout, basic facilities, and connections to care. I created a set of guiding questions meant to encourage exploration.
Experience Design
I was left with a multitude of suggestions, ideals, and concepts, culminating into a six page design guide. To synthesize my research into a more digestible format, I created an example experience, mapping quotes from stakeholders and recommendations from my design guide into physical objects and spaces.
Project Update: The City of Boston is in the process of building a new space based on the designs created in this project.
