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Transient Homes
The railroad is central to Yakima, existing as a connector between the agricultural land and the city, as well as between the east and west sides of Yakima. The train mediates this spine and transports agricultural produce from the farms to the storage warehouses in the city, also carrying farm workers to and from the city, becoming a collector of transience. Transience form the backbone of Yakima, yet the effect of these transients is almost invisible on the city.
I am proposing an architectural strategy for occupation that distributes transients into Yakima, taking advantage of the existing city infrastructure, bringing these conditions of transience to the surface of the city. In order to accommodate this transience, I propose to begin occupying the city by superimposing a grid of bathrooms - each spaced within a five minute walking distance - along the infrastructure of the railroad and waterfront, to begin to provide the bare minimum for a certain standard of existence. The overlaying of this system upon the already existing city systems creates opportunities for hybrid programming and programmatic collapses to accommodate transience within the city. As these transient occupations occur, they will transform over the year (shelter from May-Oct, and a laundromat in the later months, etc). Through the formation of this infrastructure - within which actions of domesticity can exist - home as a place to sleep, store, commune, etc, is created.