A collaboration between University of South Australia architecture students, street artists, the Integrated Design Commission and the Service to Youth Council is bringing the plight of homeless youth right into the heart of Adelaide this month through a major installation now in place on North Terrace.
The project will be launched today at 11am by Minister for Youth, Ian Hunter to mark Youth Homelessness Day.
While it may be quite hidden from general view, each night in Adelaide more than 2900 young people find themselves homeless.
The North Terrace installation is designed to put the issue on the map, on our streetscape and in our consciousness.
Known as Project Tag, the concept for the installation was born out of the success of last year's youth homelessness awareness competition, Reality Checkpoint, which asked UniSA art, architecture and design students to consider homelessness and its impact on young people in designing an installation that would put the issue on the agenda.
The winners of that competition were funded in-kind by Jamie McClurg, director of Commercial and General to make their vision a reality. Their work has been undertaken through UniSA's Matchstudio, a research and professional practice studio established to support students' transition to the working world.
UniSA architecture students leading the project, Ellen Buttrose and John Pagnozzi (pictured above), said the work offered some important learning challenges architecturally, but also challenged their thinking around the sensitive issue of youth homelessness and helped to exercise all the skills required to manage a large-scale design projects involving input from various groups.
The mural for the 16m x 8m x 6m installation was entirely informed by input from young clients of the Service to Youth Council and completed under the direction of street artist Jason Koen.
"As part of the project we spent a lot of time thinking about how the design of the installation could best start a conversation about youth homelessness but a conversation that was very inclusive of young people themselves," Buttrose said.
To read more visit: http://www.unisa.edu.au/news/2012/180412.asp
