An experimental academic project which required students to make a shelter with the form of a sphere, which can be placed anywhere in Bandung.
A portable shelter concept designed for the hawkers at Gasibu Square, Bandung. Hawkers’ position has always been a dilemma in the city. They appear as a response to the fulfillment of the needs of the people living in the city. On the other hand, they create further problem to the city regarding the cleanliness, order, and many more. The problem can also be found at Gasibu Square, Bandung. In particular, the hawkers at Gasibu Square appear only on every Saturday night and Sunday morning until afternoon. Therefore, on the rest of the days of the week, the square is left unoccupied by the hawkers. This condition leads to other problem: safety; because there is not enough general lighting provided all over the square. The properties of a hawker may vary from a carrying pole to a small lorry. Some of the hawkers don’t even have any of them. They just use a bag to carry their load, and just unload them anywhere they like. From the past until nowadays, the most frequent solution to front this problem has always been done by hauling the hawker. The solution is consequently proven to be ineffective, because the hawkers keep on coming back, as a response to the people’s demand.
The Spheres offer a more mutual solution for the problem by providing portable shelters for the hawkers. The first step need to be taken is by providing adequate lighting{e.g.in the form of lamp posts} alongside the circulation area all over the square. A wire can be tied connecting the lamp posts as the place to hang the spheres, thus offering unlimited- yet more organized- alternative layouts of the Spheres on the square. The form of the sphere basically is a mixture of two tensile structures - a dome tent and an umbrella, which offer it`s user a high degree of portability.
Design of the Sphere is taken from one of the thoughts of Karl Marx: Materialistic principles. The principles’ main idea is about how the society acts in response to the power of the authorities, which then trigger the contradictory economic condition. This condition culminates then burst into a revolution, which create a new economic system, more oriented to the people. The principles is taken and translated to a real form, which can be seen as the Sphere
2006