This article specifically focuses on how the modern architecture movement caused designers to lose the personal feel and livability of residential spaces. They discuss how modern homes have lost the sense of domesticity that was present in older homes. The lack of ornament and the transparent aspect with the large amounts of glass have taken away the sense of refuge that was an integral part of the space. Modern spaces lose the feeling of personal change as no matter what is changed in the home does not change the overall feel like it would in a more classic home. The copious amounts of glass also cause a loss of refuge. Homes used to be a place to escape from the outside world and modern homes have completely abandoned that aspect for the sake a sense of false progress. The author alludes to the fact that modern homes have evolved because humans have lost the ability to dwell and instead require a place to simply live while their true home is around the area and involves them interacting with the surrounding environment rather than having their own space to retreat to and dwell.
Unhoused people are approaching an apex in their specific predicament. The most interesting part about this problem is how complex it is. Everyone has a different story or reason as to how they ended up being unhoused and some of their stories are awful. They have lived through problems that many people cannot even fathom and yet they are often written off as simply addicts or lazy in some people’s minds. The true issue is that there has been a housing crisis in the United States for many years as the suburban area continued to expand and focus on automobile transportation and single-family housing which has separated our society and fractured our sense of community. Many unhoused people are forced to live in crevasses between buildings near popular places because it is their only place of refuge. They are constantly driven out of every place and must find any space to escape the elements. Expresso Roma is one of these spaces as there are always people under the covers and next to the walls to hide from the elements. The space provides certain outdoor spaces that provide some sort of refuge that are not provided by the government. If they provided certain federal run psychological options and more housing options, then these people may not have to use alley ways and covers as their only form of escape. Expresso Roma recently put up a fence to their alley with barbed wire to make sure no unhoused people could use it for refuge.