The Shelter Project  The New York Problem  Most people come to
New York City either from Long Island, Bangladesh, or France (or
wherever) to do big things. But rooms are few and small. The
dreamers end up caged like tigers. (The most extreme cases seen
after six years of Shelter interviews were the two six-foot men
who lived in 190 square feet and slept in one twin bed and the
10 people in a one-and-a-half bedroom apartment who took showers
together to save time.) Since 25.5 percent of New York renters
spent more than 50 percent of their income on rent, according to
the Housing Preservation and Development's 2002 report—the
national standard is around 30—most New Yorkers do not have the
money it takes to invest in walls of perfectly constructed,
built-in shipboard cabinets.  Now, a kiss is the true way to
make a space seem bigger. Music, also. Or any sort of
psychological, perceptual intoxication. To solve the space
problem in a more permanent way, four New York-based design
students were given nine days to v