Architect and designer Elysia Mikkelsen states that being homeless means much more than not having a place to live, as there are a lot of stigmas attached with the situation and these stigmas make such people stay away from the community. In an effort to better the conditions for those in need of a safe place to live, the architect has conceptualized the Cultivation Connections. Designed as a homeless center in Philadelphia, the goal of the project is to reconnect the people to the community by giving them a place to live and a respectable position in society.
The eco friendly building tries to bring in the landscape into the building as a vertical farm. People living in the homeless center will hence be able to cultivate their own food, which they can use for themselves or reach out and share with the outside community too. This provides the residents of the building a way to participate in the community along with a promise of a better life style.