According to the proposal, “[t]he Shelter internalizes the “city park” landscape by use of a courtyard.” This simple concept of design encourages a self-contained sense of community that doesn’t spill over street corners. The wrap-around construction of glass allows for great permeation of light from all sides. The structure’s tilt incorporates a grassy hill as both an insulator and a continuation of the shelter’s green roof. Function and accessibility are merged into one cohesive whole that makes a direct challenge to the predominant vision of urban shelter architecture: why does it have to be ugly? A shelter that has been designed with no concern for an emotional aesthetic, and no response to an ecologically conscious urbanism, effectively depersonalizes the concept of shelter. It is no longer a home–transitional or otherwise–or source of community, but a cold, isolating, utilitarian box. Shelters that essentially dehumanize the homeless are only preserving the retrogressive understanding of homelessness in contemporary urban environments. The ZEF Side Homeless Shelter provides a solution to the dignity of the residents while confidently exposing the concerns of homelessness within Chicago. Why perpetuate urban brutality? Addressing the aesthetics of homeless shelters has all the power to transform the understanding of homelessness into one not devoid of satisfying emotional needs as well those of security. “You can spend the money on new housing for poor people and the homeless, or you can spend it on a football stadium or a golf course.” – Jello Biafra - See more at: http://www.ecopedia.com/design/chicago-zef-side-homeless-shelter-redefines-urban-community/#sthash.pDjlu4cQ.dpuf