Located in an urban setting, Better Place is designed to soften the harsh experience of the homeless on a daily basis. As you enter the sun-lit Engagement Center, interior landscape brings you to a small exterior courtyard, overlooking the community dining room to the rear yard. Fostering the interaction between the residents and the outside world, the building is also planned to provide a safe place for the users to recover on their own pace. The overlay of cembonite panels and Ipe louver systems, shading the south and east facades, plays a rhythmic role against the masonry base.