Commission
PROSES, an organization dedicated to the prevention of risks related to drug use, commissioned a group of students to assist in the conception of housing for “active” drug users, many of whom are barred from existing shelters, which generally require them to commit to detoxification. They are therefore forced to live on the streets, in some cases for years, with only occasional stays at hotels or with friends.
Project
To respond to the demands of the commission, the team conducted a series of studies: mapping the site being considered for the project, researching the relevant legal questions, assembling other architectural projects that interrogate the sharing of public space, investigating practices that connect communities and urban space, inventorying and meeting with actors in the field.
The work in progress was then presented as a “notebook” at a conference, held in October 2011, with the Association Française pour la Réduction des risques liés à l’usage de drogues. A writing experiment, it consisted of reflections and data gathered through various lines of inquiry (images, mappings, ideas, annotations of legal texts, excerpts of conversations, etc.), as well as blanks, lacunas, bubbles, vanishing points — each an invitation to explore and develop a perspective.
A presentation of the project and the notebook are online one Yves Mettler’s website : http://www.theselection.net/blocnote.html
