A group of students and graduates from the Architectural Association school in London have produced a kit that can help turn unused spaces into public amenities.

Asif Khan, Omid Kamvari and Pavlos Sideris produced the Public Space Shading Canopy kit after their successful experience erecting a 15m-long lycra canopy in the slum of Favelo do Pilar in Recife, Brazil, last year.

The bright yellow awning, which was slung from telegraph poles and buildings using cables, was erected in just four hours with the help of locals and according to the designers, immediately turned the neglected thoroughfare into a vibrant public space.

The new kit, which provides shelter from sun and rain, contains all the materials and tools people need to create their own canopies. It comes in S, M, L and XL sizes.

The kits, and the Recife project, will feature in a forthcoming exhibition at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York.

Called Design For The Other 90%, the exhibition will feature designs that improve the lives of the world's poor and runs from 4 May to 27 September 2007.

>> One Year House, an exhibition of photographs of improvements to refugee housing on the Thai-Burma border by Asif Khan and Julia King, opened at the Architectural Association this week and continues until 4 February.