Photos: Open-source housing for those in need

Starting in 1998, more than 30 types of paraSITEs were used by homeless people in Cambridge, Mass.; Boston; Baltimore; and New York City. However, city officials and building owners moved to prevent the structures from being set up, noted designer Michael Rakowitz on his Web site. In Harvard Square, for instance, city officials bent window grates to make it impossible for paraSITES to latch onto them.

Photo by Michael Rakowitz and Lombard-Freid