How Can We Address the Homelessness Crisis?

In a unique partnership with local nonprofit Facing Homelessness, JA created an art installation, drawing attention to the homeless crisis in our region. The piece is part of the BAM Biennial, an exhibit at the Bellevue Arts Museum, and this year’s theme is Architecture & Urban Design.

JA Partner Jack Chaffin was interviewed by the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce about the piece. Here’s an excerpt from the interview.

The View from Here is made in collaboration with Facing Homelessness. The piece is designed to “shine a light on our neighbors who now live unsheltered in Bellevue and Seattle.”

The installation consists of a "tent tower" of four tents stacked atop one another, an audio-visual component, and an info-graphic.

“When we were brainstorming about the piece we wanted to make sure that we created an installation that was relevant and specific to the region, and unfortunately the reality of homelessness in the built environment can't be ignored,” Jack Chaffin, Partner at Johnston Architects, explained.

“The tent tower is a play on the luxury towers and condominiums that we have seen rise up at the same time as homelessness in Seattle and Bellevue,” Chaffin continued.

Image courtesy of bellevue arts museum

JA wanted to juxtapose these two realities that are hard to reconcile. Each tent features a silhouette of a domestic scene that you might more typically see in a holiday window storefront display, such as someone reading a book or getting their hair done.

“The idea behind the silhouettes was to try and put the viewer in the museum ‘inside of the tent,' to show that the un-housed are people just like them. The thin fabric of the tents also represents just how fine the line between being housed and un-housed can be,” Chaffin added.

In addition to the tents, there is an audio-visual component that consists of looped recordings of homeless individuals and those who are helping to solve the problem of homelessness. These audio clips are taken from a series of videos produced by Facing Homelessness. The info-graphic frames the tent tower and features an image of the Seattle and Bellevue skylines with facts about the crisis provided by Facing Homelessness.

“Ultimately we want the piece to stir action and to create an empathy bridge between those viewing the exhibit and the homeless community that it represents,” Chaffin concluded.