Byg Udenfor (build outside)

The Byg Udenfor project consists of six small 15m2 mobile housing units for homeless people. The units were designed with input from local homeless people and built one at a time with residents as assistants. The housing is set up for temporary periods, preferably a few months or more at a time, on vacant municipal land between the former hospital buildings at the County Hospital. The project was created by the homeless organisation Project UDENFOR and designed and built by Architects Without Borders DK.

With the project, AUG wants to make it possible for homeless people to participate in the design and construction of small mobile and flexible dwellings, made to support a lifestyle that makes them feel at home. The aim is to make the homeless feel less exposed and make it easier for them to get on with life.

DEVELOPMENT TARGETS

• That the homeless becomes less exposed and that their lives are improved by having a home
• That participation in the design- and construction processes increase the user’s wish to live in and maintain a home
• That Aarhus Municipality can make use of vacant areas to improve the lives of the city’s homeless community
• That we and our partner the Fonden Project Outside gain valuable experience in building for the homeless and potentially can expand the project to other cities and reach more people.

The project was awarded the City Architect’s Special Prize for Temporary Architecture.

“Ownership, belonging and community have been created, and six people who have struggled to feel at home in our society have been given a better foundation to build a life in a less vulnerable position.”