For the last three years, first-year students of the Architectural Technology course at TU Dublin have built and slept out in their own shelters for one night in the winter to experience the effects of climate, consider sustainability in a visceral way, and raise awareness and funds for homelessness.
All the images you will see were taken during the last three years of this project. Read more about the project below and you can also view an explainer video HERE.
Students in studio creating drawings and schedules of their sleepout shelters.
They were challenged to create structures, with only a pallet of recycled materials, that could house them overnight, maintain 20 degrees internally, achieve 100 lux daylight levels, and stay dry. They travelled to their encampment, erected their shelters, and braved the elements to eventually raise nearly €20,000 for homelessness charities. Crucially, there was an emphasis on precise measurement of carbon and the structures being deconstructable so components were reusable next year. What began as a fun class assignment to bring new college students together, has grown into a design project and public event that instils good learning outcomes for a good cause.
The energy and activity within the design studio during the planning and preparation stage of the project.
This initiative is a design assignment run in October of the academic year with first and second-year students of the BSc (Hons) in Architectural Technology at TU Dublin. The project has taken place over the last three years and has been refined and expanded to include over 100 students and thousands of interactions with the wider public. 12 groups of 10 students are tasked with designing and building a structure that can house their group at an open-air location on the central Grangegorman Campus in Dublin for a single night. We identified at an early stage that the encampment the students would create could be an opportunity to raise public awareness and funds for housing and homelessness supports in Ireland, along with the students’ understanding of these issues. We therefore joined the initiative with Focus Ireland’s annual Shine A Light Night charity as a channel for donations. Along with a complex design project that explores sustainability deeply, particularly Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10; Reduced Inequalities, the students and staff collected donations, and publicised the initiative. In 2023, they were able to raise over €5,000 for homeless supports and services, with a further €10,000 being raised in 2024.
Group of students trying hard to make their sleepout shelter waterproof for the night.
The project was initially conceived as a way of introducing new college students to the basic concepts of architecture and shelter along with environmental and social sustainability in a highly visceral way to align with SDG 11; Sustainable Cities. However, a set of assessment criteria were used to elevate the project to a genuine design challenge. The idea of actually experiencing the act of transporting materials and assembling elements to create a simple shelter to house 10 people, meant that students would have real-world consequences for their design decisions. Students were required to dismantle the structures the next morning and carry them back to the college also for reuse for the following year. They therefore had to carefully weigh decisions of cost and comfort versus physical effort and aesthetics. This issue of people being disconnected from the impact of their decisions drove many aspects of the assignment. We continually asked the question “how can we demonstrate and reveal the chain of choices which lead to more sustainable outcomes?”.
Group of student lifting a large hexagonal structure into place ready to be clad and roofed.
The students were encouraged to use waste materials and FSC certified timber elements and were guided to make use of local waste harvesting cooperatives that stock end-of-life materials, construction waste, dead stock, and production waste. The project required them to precisely schedule and measure embodied carbon for their structures by reference to the Inventory of Carbon and Energy and the Environmental Product Declarations database. Each group produced a “cradle to practical completion” total upfront carbon kgCO2e/sqm figure for their structures. This was verified by carrying out a count of all materials the next day after the challenge was completed and the structures disassembled and returned to the college. The students learned as groups that the average total embodied carbon for their tiny 10sqm structure was 90kgCO2e (9kgCO2e/ sqm). However, groups that used a high proportion of waste materials and certified timber achieved negative total values of as a low as -15kgCO2e due to sequestration, their awareness of SDG 12; Responsible Consumption and Production, now being much more refined.
Students bedding down at night within one of their shelters.
This measurable impact was a powerful benchmark for the final stage of the project (and all subsequent typical design projects) and changed their viewpoint on construction and material specification. The final element of the initiative was a hypothetical housing design that, instead of being required to survive for only one night, would need to be durable enough to last for the long term (60 years). The groups were required to modify their designs on this basis which resulted in an increase in size due to modern conveniences like toilets, separate bedrooms, recreation spaces, and durable materials now being viewed as a definite need.
Image of encampment of shelters as night sets in.
Crucially, they had to measure carbon again and compare it to their Sleep-out structures. They were shocked to see that the average “cradle to practical completion” upfront embodied carbon figure had drastically increased from 9kgCO2e/m2 (a LETI 2030 Design Target Upfront Embodied Carbon rating of A++) to over 1,650kgCO2e/m2 (a LETI 2030 Design Target Upfront Embodied Carbon rating of G).
Students counting screws and parts to precisely calculate embodied carbon.
Once typical construction elements like foundations, masonry, and windows were introduced, groups found it very difficult to reduce their impact without drastic innovation. This meant students began to explore alternative technologies and to reduce their expectation of what modern conveniences are and consider SDG 9; Industry Innovation and Infrastructure, more carefully. The project was graded based on a range of factors including space quality/ character, durability (control of light [min. 100 lux], temperature [avg. 20 degrees over 12 hours], water [no. of leaks]), embodied upfront carbon and deconstructability.
Group of students happy to occupy a dry and bright structure ready for the long night ahead.
This encouraged the students to make more balanced design decisions rather than typical aesthetic-driven approaches. They now had a clear memory of the difficulty of finding and transporting materials, the risk of assembling them in the wind and rain, the potential discomfort of heat loss and water ingress during that night (which connected them moreso to those suffering from poor housing or homelessness), and the effort of dismantling components and storing them; all lessons that will hopefully translate into their careers and decision-making. We are planning to expand the project further in 2024 to include a larger number of students from more built environment disciplines and institutions.
Student groups, teachers, and members of charity organisation Focus Ireland "Shine a Light" at midnight to raise awareness of homelessness.
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