As if the day in the life of a San Francisco public school is not hectic enough, at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School in the city’s Mission District, there is one more twist thrown into the daily mix.
At 7 p.m. each day staff members from Delores Street Community Services quickly transform the school’s gymnasium and auditorium into a shelter for homeless families.
They spread out mattresses and erect partitions to give the families a slight bit of privacy.
At 7 a.m. the following morning, it all has to be put away.
It is a logistical challenge for the staff and not the most comfortable setup for the clients. At least, that is how a group of architecture students from the Academy of Art University appraised the situation when they saw it last year.
“The first thing we saw was that they were sleeping on the floor,” Loway Ghaly said.
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He and his classmates thought they could help.
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“The goal and the solution would be to ease the transition and organize the space a little better,” said fellow student Drew Hart.
Hart, Ghaly and their classmates spent the past year designing a bed tailored to the shelter residents’ needs. They crafted more than 60 beds to accommodate the two dozen families living in the shelter.
The result was a comfortable bed design with storage for belongings and able to be set up or stored away in seconds.
“Everyone there loved the beds. They thought they were perfect,” Ghaly said.
The students said they were able to create the right product by making meaningful connections with the families at the shelter and addressing their feedback and suggestions.
“The beds were something that we felt gave these people who don't have a lot just a piece of something that was theirs and just a layer of comfort,” Hart said. “So making them feel like they're at home in a space that they consider home.”
