About Us
In the Bay Area, pods have been around for a while. Since 2010, Artist Gregory Kloehn, from Oakland, California, has been building pods for the unhoused. This project was later taken up by others, including woodworker Fred Sotcher. In 2022, Pod Club was started at the Nueva School and adopted Fred Sotcher's pod design to start building pods for the unhoused. Since then, we have constructed and delivered five pods and are working on the next one. Last summer, we launched a camp at the Nueva Middle School, where we worked with 5th-8th graders to teach design engineering skills and build two of those pods. We have also written a detailed instruction manual for pod building, and are currently working to scale the project to other schools and organizations.
At Pod Club, we combine our passion for engineering and community service to build secure, long-lasting shelters for Oakland’s unhoused community.
Carly Bodnick
Irene Vail
Ethan Deitcher
Grace Everett
Zara Mirza
Rowan Brown
Daniel Risk
Alaric Li
Davis Dietzen
Senior Co-Lead and Founder
Junior Co-Lead
Business Co-Lead and Founding Member/Partner
Business Co-Lead
Construction Co-Lead and Founding Member/Partner
Construction Co-Lead
Construction Co-Lead and Founding Member/Partner
Construction Co-Lead and Founding Member/Partner
Social Media Lead
Meet the Team!
Where Do The Pods Go?
Once built, the pods will be delivered to a local unhoused community, parked on the side of the street, or on a sidewalk. The pods have wheels and can be moved easily as needed.
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In the Bay Area, previous pods have been delivered to the Cypress Freeway Memorial Park in Oakland. Once the construction process is finished, Gregory Kloehn (contact information in the building manual) can help the builders find and deliver the pod to a person in need.
