Michael Rakowitz' project paraSITE proposes the appropriation of the exterior ventilation systems on existing architecture as a means for providing temporary shelter for homeless people.

The paraSITE units in their idle state exist as small, collapsible packages with handles for transport by hand or on one's back. In employing this device, the user must locate the outtake ducts of a building's HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) system. The intake tube of the collapsed structure is then attached to the vent. The warm air leaving the building simultaneously inflates and heats the double membrane structure.

From February 1998 until April 1998, Rakowitz built seven prototypes of the paraSITE shelter and distributed them to several homeless people in Cambridge, Massachusetts, some of whom worked closely with him on the design and production of the units. Most were built using temporary materials that were readily available on the streets (plastic bags, tape). While these shelters were being used, they functioned not only as a temporary place of retreat, but also as a station of dissent and empowerment. The shelters communicated a refusal to surrender, and made more visible the unacceptable circumstances of homeless life within the city.

For the pedestrian, paraSITE functioned as an agitational device. The visibly parasitic relationship of these devices to the buildings, appropriating a readily available situation with readily available materials elicited immediate speculation as to the future of the city: Could we wake up one morning to find these encampments engulfing buildings like ivy? This project is not a proposal for affordable housing, but rather a symbolic strategy of survival for homeless existence within the city, amplifying the problematic relationship between those who have homes and those who do not.

Michael Rakowitz projects>