[Modular Density]A new paradigm for social housing through high density communal living.

Felipe Francisco M-arch 2015

0.0 [Abstract]

This thesis investigates the opportunities offered through

modular construction in the generation of low cost housing. The aim is

to create a new housing paradigm that, through hyper-density, achieves

a more economically viable, ecologically resilient, and culturally

constructive typology. This typology could be integrated within cities

with either high levels of poverty, or high housing cost, to offer a housing

opportunity for those unable to achieve the traditional idea of ownership,

and set precedent for a shift in housing culture towards a communal

rather than individual endeavor.

[Key Words] Density, Micro, Modular, Community, Affordability

Contents

Abstract | 0.0

2 Introduction | 1.011 Structure of the book | 1.1

3 Thesis statement | 1.2

5 Argument | 1.3

7 Relavance | 1.4

9 Personal statment | 1.5

14 Literature review | 2.016 Topic area | 2.1

18 Research essay | 2.2

24 Critera | 2.3

26 Precedents | 3.028 kitagata social housing | 3.1

30 Nakagin Capsule Tower | 3.2

32 Formosa 1140 | 3.3

34 Songpa Micro Housing | 3.4

36 Design research | 4.040 Criteria testing | 4.1

42 Frames | 4.2

56 Method | 4.3

62 Schedual | 4.4

64 Bibliography | 5.0

2

1.0 INTRODUCTION

4

[Thesis Statment]

Proposing a new paradigm for affordable housing through the systematic reimagining of housing density, culture, and structure, to create a more efficient, resilient, and communal housing culture.

1.1

6

[Argument]

The rapid technology-fueled economic growth of society

and changing social dynamics has encouraged the outward expansion

of low-density suburban conditions. These changes have dispersed

populations over larger urban footprints, decreasing the density of

urban environments, resulting in a bloated condition of individual

space. This growth has outpaced the rise in personal income of the

majority of the population, making homeownership an unattainable

reality. By increasing housing density, and reimagining housing culture

to be a communal rather then individual endeavor, housing cost can be

drastically decreased and ownership made a reality.

1.2

On left aerial photo of landscape outside Miami by Paul and Anne Ehrlich

On opposite page, left photo of urban sprawl outside Houston by Christoph Gielen, right photo of urban sprawl by Kent Weakley

8

1.3 [Relevance]

The urban environment has always facilitated enormous

growth and development in all human endeavors acting as a generator

of intellectual, cultural, and economic progress. This progress is

exponentially related to the high levels of population density achieved

within metropolitan centers. Through a reciprocal relationship,

large urban populations push human progress and the promise of

opportunity attributed with progress draws in people to add to the

populace. The rise of the Industrial and technical revolutions have

catalyzed this growth pattern resulting in a drastic increase in global

progress and population.

Urban environments have scrambled to meet the needs of

these growing centers. Improvements in transportation technology

and infrastructure have allowed people to live farther from urban

centers and places of employment resulting in environmentally taxing

suburban sprawl. This growth has come at a cost both economically

and socially, the constant rise in population has lead to housing

sacristy driving up costs and forcing those of the lower strata of the

urban citizenry out of the housing market.

Beyond the moral implications of a society unable to house its

people there is a physical cost associated with supporting a portion of

the population without the means to compete within the current social

structure of urban environments. This thesis proposes to reimagine the

current housing paradigm and shift the future narrative of urbanization

towards a more inclusive and resilient path. By establishing precedent

for a more inclusive housing culture those of societies lower class can

be pulled back into a constructive role in the never ending human goal

for progress.

On left aerial photo of new York by Vincent Laforet

On opposite page, bottom aerial photo of Barcelona by Vincent Laforet,top tilt-shift photo of Los Angeles by Vincent Laforet

10

1.4 [Personal Statement]

My interest in housing culture comes from the dualistic

nature of my upbringing. I was born, and spent the earliest years of my

life, in New Bedford Massachusetts; a city whose economic foundation

had crumbled long before I was born. At a young age I moved to the

small town of Marion Massachusetts, a wealthy community wherein

I was privileged with the safety and comfort of a middle-class,

suburban American. Due to this upbringing I have been witness to

boundless privilege, and crippling poverty. From a young age this

gave me awareness and benevolence for those who live without the

opportunities afforded to me. While these influences did not drive me

to the study of architecture, I have always carried them with me and

intend to leverage this thesis as a means of addressing these social

issues.

On left panorama of New Bedford harbor before a storm.

Above photo of Marion harbor.

12

1.5 [Structure of the book]

In the sections that follow, this book will express the

influences and ideas pertaining to my thesis thinking. It will begin with

an examination of the literature and theories that have influenced

my thinking, the summation of which will form the criteria for testing

my design thinking along the way. Following this the book will cover

a brief collection of architectural precedents whose concepts and

architectonic details have played a role in the articulation of my design

thus far. With this background work completed, the book will cover the

bulk of my design thinking, starting with sketch criteria tests that will

inform design investigations into formal, spatial, economic, tectonic,

and social aspects of my thesis. The book will conclude with a graphic

amalgamation of my research methodology thus far and a timeline

covering the steps to come.

On left areal photo of New Delhi population density 30,000 per square mile

14

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0

16

2.1 [Topic Area]

Human history has been defined by the creation of the idea

of the urban environment. The recent technological revolution has

driven the rapid outward expansion of urban communities, spreading

them into peripheral “suburban” conditions which has changed the very

notion of urban through interconnecting populations like never before.

When taken as a conglomerate, urban environments offer enormous

opportunities due the population densities that they can support. Yet,

with the ever-expanding nature of the urban environment and urban

population arise a host of social, economic, ecological, and political

problems.

While the problems that plaque urbanism have always

existed, the evolution of society brought on by technology has amplified

these problems. As the infrastructure of urban centers becomes more

complex, so to do the issues. In the aim to address and call into question

some of the problems associated with the urban environment, I have

chosen to focus on housing. Housing as an architectural manifestation

within the urban context is the great facilitator that makes it possible for

a city to support such high densities of human life. As such, the problems

revolving around it are a microcosm of the problems faced by the entire

urban enterprise. The first major issue surrounding housing that I have

focused on are property costs, which have become unrealistic for many

members of the population to afford. The second is the bloated size of

“private” space taken by individuals, which has increased the reliance on

transportation and isolated individuals from the rest of the population.

And third, the ecological impact of the urban sprawl, the reliance on

fossil fuels and wasteful building/living practices associated with the

modern urban environment has had major environment ramifications.

My aim in studying the social, economic, and ecological problems

surrounding housing is to generate a paradigm that can act as a catalyst

for a new alternative urban narrative which moves away from its current

self-destructive path towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient

course.

On left aerial photo of new York by Vincent Laforet

18

[Alternate urbanism] The urban environment is a condition that is constantly in a state of flux; it is a temporal condition unique to its place due to a variety of social, environmental, and historical influences. The concept of an urban environment has existed for thousands of years; always changing and adapting to the “now” 1 but over the past hundred years, the rate of change has rapidly grown. Catalyzed by the industrial and technical revolutions, the idea of urban today is drastically different from what it was only a century before. The rapid growth of urban environments has lead to constant scarcity in housing stock pushing urban growth further into the periphery of a city through a reciprocal relationship with the automobile which facilitates the ability for people to live further away from urban centers thus insuring its continued necessity. The rapid outward expansion has out paced the growth of cities and resulted in a lower-density “suburban” condition. In conjunction with technology-fueled growth came changing sets of public policy ranging from housing reform and city sanitation to more stringent, explicit zoning regulations that favor single-use urban zones. These changes have dispersed populations over a larger urban footprint, decreasing the density of urban environments and encouraging a bloated condition of individual space. The evolving condition of the urban environment has pulled away from the high density informal nature urbanism of the past moving that can still be seen cities such as Bangkok as seen in the image by Howard Davis, and brought major advances in the standard of living for the populace of cities but this growth has come with ramifications such as the proliferation of the automobile, urban sprawl, high-energy consumption, and the segregation of social systems. The shift into stringently defined boundaries between building types and the growth of low-density, larger scale commercial, residential, and business conditions has supported the ever-growing physical and economic gap between the rich and poor through separating residential and commercial areas of different economic classes. In urban environments with successful micro-economies, the result of the growing social gap has been the explosion of housing cost and high cost housing stock forcing those on the lower rungs of the social ladder out of urban centers and into the periphery. 2 Even through these social changes, populations in urban environments have continued to grow driving development, development that is often geared towards those of economic means, resulting in the lack of availability of housing stock throughout the urban environment from urban centers to the suburban periphery. The resulting housing shortage

has become a major component of the housing crisis of today’s urban environments. Conversely, in urban environments, in which the driving force behind its economic power has long dwindled, there is no shortage of housing stock. The lack of economic opportunity in declining urban environments pushes those of economic means out of these areas in the search for opportunity in suburban areas or other urban centers, leaving housing abandonment in their wake. The remaining populaces are those who are economically incapable of escaping these dwindling environments. 3 These ramifications of the modernization of urbanization have become apparent to policy makers and citizens alike. The backlash to these ramifications has been a shift in policies towards hybrid, more ambiguous, zoning conditions and urban interventions. These alternate ideas of urbanization offer methods and solutions for the social, economic, and ecological problems of urban environments. A singular discipline cannot take on the scale and scope of modern urbanization; only though a joint effort between disciplines can the problems be addressed and an alternative means of urbanization that redirects the urban narrative towards a more social and ecologically responsible condition be formed. This alternative path of urbanization must look to both the macro-scale of the urban environment and the micro-scale of built environment which house the populous that make up these urban centers. Jeffery Hou puts forward the idea of “now urbanism” in reference to the urgent need for action and intervention within urban environments today. For Hou, the cities of the future are the cities we live in today, grounded in the messy, yet idea-rich reality of the urban environments and the importance of the agency of the populous in catalyzing social change. The populations of an urban environment can make active changes to their environment even if on a small scale such as in the case of the Pitagoras school in Lima Peru. It is in the messy nature of deteriorating urban environments that solutions to current issues can be found.4 Brent D. Ryan lays out a means of dealing with the worsening conditions of declining or “shrinking” cities. The term shrinking cities is applied to cities that have been in decline due to the loss of their major economic driving force, leading to the loss of housing stock and citizens to abandonment and proliferation to the suburbs. Ryan proposes some strategic alternative methods of urban planning that can be applied in shrinking cities and stable cities alike such as palliative planning, which emphasizes intervening in areas, where housing abandonment and population loss are at their steepest, to slow the trend of housing loss. Interventionist

2.2

On left shophouses in Bangkok’s china town, show traditonal urban density. Howard Davis, 2012.

Research Essay

20

policy referring to polices for positive intervention through a balance of demolition of sectors that have become unstable and construction of new neighborhoods that support and encourage growth. As well as projective design, interventions within the urban context must look to project their impact into the cities future and not simply meet its existing needs. 5 These methods, in conjunction with a redistribution of public funding into strategic interventions as opposed to its general proliferation across the city, can lead to a condition of patchwork urbanism. A condition which accepts the inevitable loss of some part of the city and the irregular levels of density, habitation, housing stock, and public space within shrinking cities, and through curating where support is aimed, encourages economic and social growth of stable regions through targeted interventions in order to slow and stabilize the decline of a city. For both Ryan and Hou, addressing the macro-scale issues of urbanization means rethinking alternate methods of making todays cities through tactical interventions to catalyze meaningful changes . Looking to the macro-scale has the benefit of seeing the overall trajectory of the urban environment and helps to address larger social, economic, and ecologic issues but it has, and will always, fail to fully address the core focus of the physical environment and that is to facilitate human life. For this, we must look to the micro- scale of the built environment and its immediate effects on occupants of an urban environment. In their book Situational Norm the partners of LTL architects use the military term “SNAFU” (situational norm all fucked up) to highlight the issues with the current practice of architecture in its failure to address many of the social and environmental deficiencies it has helped to create, and instead propose an alternative set of tactics for addressing architectural practice starting with the user.6 LTL are not the first to propose such a change. The ideas have been brought up since the rise of modernism as a result of the social crisis faced during the early part of the 20th century. Karel Teige proposed a shift in the culture of architecture and housing in his ideas on the “minimal dwelling”. The goal of the minimum dwelling was not to make the smallest possible inhabitable space, but to strip away all of the cultural influences on space making, and look at the minimum biological requirements for healthy and productive living. These basic necessities, such as sun, light, and air, in conjunction with needs such as room to rest, eat, bathe, and sleep form the basis for a re-imagining of dwelling. In order to make it more affordable for those on societies lowest social strata, Teige wished to strip away waste and inefficiencies in housing. The poor could never be able to

afford the “bourgeois” idea of home that was embedded in the culture of society, but through radically redefining what home meant, the conditions of people living a subsistence minimum lifestyle could be improved. The means by which Teige proposes to create the minimum dwelling is three fold. First, through leveraging new technology to change the physical layout of space, such as light, movable partition walls to divide space, compact kitchens, and compact multi-functional furniture. Second, through changing the focus of architects to be more politically and socially oriented in order to serve and protect those of the proletariat, as well as through stripping away some of the amenities and serving spaces traditionally found in a dwelling and moving them to communal services that act as an extension of the apartment. Through relying on communal services, individual living cells can be made smaller and rented at a lower cost. It is through the shift from dwelling as an individual condition to a more collective and social condition that Teige proposed to solve the problems with housing.7 The idea of the minimum requirement for living is still being looked into in movements like micro- or “Nano” housing today to address current issues as suggested by Phyllis Richardson in Nano House which creates an argument for micro-housing as a means of moving away from the large scale economically and environmentally unsupportable housing seen today without giving up the major technological and design comforts that contemporary society has come to relay on.8 Alternatively, to mitigate the cost of housing prefabrication, which is getting a second look from authors such as Allison Arieff who, in Prefab, push for investments in prefabrication methods. While she accepts the long history of poor quality prefabricated housing, Arieff advocates investing in the process as a means of producing low-cost, high-quality housing much like other industrial production has done.9 These methods look to create social and cultural change on the urban scale through critical changes in the way in which individuals within the society live. Such a change in cultural and social conditions will inevitably have a portion of the population against the change; often the argument against ideas of communal housing are that such small housing, and lack of privacy, would be seen as less than ideal for the occupants. Shay Salomon would disagree, putting forward the argument that the focus on privacy in contemporary housing separates individuals from society, creating a feeling of isolation. Shay suggests a shift to smaller scale housing will encourage sharing and community and will help to nurture future generations into a less lonesome lifestyle.10 The micro-scale allows for the examination

2.2

On left parents and teachers work together to build terraced garden stairs at the Pitagoras school in Lima Peru. Jeffery Hou, 2015.

22

of the individuals relationship to the built form of an urban environment. The urban environment is made of both macro-level process and micro-level process connected through fabric buildings. These fabric buildings are a critical part of the urban environments mitigating the connections between the individual and the city, fabric buildings as put forward by Howard Davis are best described by the shop/house typology which under typical zoning laws had been largely ignored in modern urbanization. The shop/house is a hybrid building that combines dwelling and work in close relation to each other and the community. They exist in places where density allows for commercial activity acting as infrastructure that funnels people from residential areas to transportation and urban centers. Their condition as a residence and workplace allows them to integrate into a community through a connection between owner/resident and neighbors; their ties to communities generate a cyclical economic condition that supports the neighborhoods they are a part of. The success of these buildings is due to their cyclical flexibility, which is the ability for space to take on different functions at different times, whether daily weekly or otherwise. This allows the shop/house to function as a vital yet unassuming part of a community.11 Contemporary urbanism has vastly changed the way in which

people live their day-to-day lives. These changes to the urban environment have come with severe social, economic, and ecological consequences. Such consequences will have to be addressed today and by future generations through an interdisciplinary effort to change the way in which people live. Through changes made both on the macro-scale, focused on altering the urban condition through tactical intervention and planning, and on the micro-scale, through rethinking our cultural predisposition towards space, privacy, and consumption. The New alternative urban environment will take on drastically new forms as illustrated by Jeffery Hou in a proposal for an ecologically responsible future for the city of Seattle. The alternative path of urbanism to come from such changes will have to be more inclusive, communal, and responsible with the worlds limited resources.

2.2

On left rendering of Self regulating building as a proposal for a future ecologically responsible Seattle. Jeffery Hou, 2015.

[Endnotes]1) Hou,Jeffrey,ed.Now Urbanism: The Future City Is Here. Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork:Routledge.2015.

2) Davis,Howard.Living over the Store: Architecture and Local Urban Life.Abingdon,Oxon[England];NewYork,NY: Routledge.2012.

3) Ryan,BrentD.Design after Decline How America Rebuilds Shrinking Cities.Philadelphia:Universityof PennsylvaniaPress,2012.

4) Hou,Jeffrey,ed.Now Urbanism

5) Davis,Howard.Living over the Store

6) Lewis,Paul,Tsurumaki,Marc,andDavidJ.Lewis.Situation Normal PamphletArchitecture21.NewYork: Princeton.ArchitecturalPress.1998.

7) Teige,Karel,andEricDluhosch.The Minimum Dwelling: The Housing Crisis,Housing Reform.Cambridge,Mass.: Chicago,Ill:MITPress;GrahamFoundationfor AdvancedStudiesintheFineArts.2002.

8) Richardson,Phyllis.Nano House: Innovations for Small Dwellings.London:Thames&Hudson,Inc.2011.

9) Arieff,Allison,andBryanBurkhart.Prefab. 1st ed.SaltLake City:GibbsSmith.2002.

10) Salomon,Shay,andNigelValdez.Little House on a Small Planet: Simple Homes, Cozy Retreats, and Energy EfficientPossibilities.Guilford,Conn:LyonsPress. 2006. 11)Davis,Howard.Living over the Store

24

2.3 5) The paradigm must achieve

spatial efficiency that address the

ecological problems associated

with housing.

Systems must be resilience to

ecological change.

Units must be fabricated in a

sustainable manner that minimizes

long term environmental impact.

Field must minimize the ecological

impact of the built mass through

location and land use.

4) The assembly and fabrication

methods utilized must achieve

maximum cost efficiency.

System must use minimal

material necessary to enclose

and support structure.

Units must arrogate with minimal

redundant space.

Field must be within close

proximity to material

transportation.

2) The housing paradigm must

achieve hyper-density while

allowing its occupants to thrive.

Building systems must

comprehensively contain

necessary communal program

with minimal redundancy.

Units must achieve maximum

acceptable level of human

density.

Field must fully utilize and activate

infill sites balancing building mass

and public space.

3) The building must be flexible

to the changing living conditions

of its occupants.

Systems must allow for occupants

to flexibly occupy communal

space as an extension their units.

Units must allow for short-term

changes to the living space as

well as large-scale long-term

changes.

Field must facilitate expansion

and contraction of occupancy

levels.

1) The building must be inclusive

of all social classes

Building systems must

encourage social interaction

across occupant types.

Unit quality must be consistent

across incomes.

Field must allow full range of

community interaction through

integration of public space.

6) Methods of representation

must allow for experimentation

and design feedback.

Models must allow for multiple

special ideas to be quickly tested.

Visualizations must amplify

atmospheric special conditions.

Drawings methods must allow for

rapid iterations of formal ideas.

Criteria

26

PRECEDENTS

3.0

28

The unit aggregation

is based around the building

module with each unit being made

up of multiple modules, each

consisting of a specific program;

bedroom, living room, traditional

Japanese room, and terrace.

Different organizations of these

basics blocks led to a complex

building section, allowing some

units double height spaces as

well as lightening the buildings

facade through the layering of

punctured terrace spaces.

3.1 Kitagata Social Housing [SANAA Kazuyo Sejima+Ryue

Nishizawa]

Kiagata is the second phase of a social housing development that took into account occupant feed back in its design. Programmatically, the slender tower is entirely housing with exterior corridors on one side, giving each unit double exposure. To address the paradigm of Japanese social housing, which had not been changed since 1945, the building uses the unit as a base module, which could be aggregated. This modularity decreased construction waste, allowed for open terraces to puncture the buildings otherwise monolithic form, and facilitated the generation of complex unit sections. Modularity allowed Kiagata to work around its small budget and created a socially constructive, flexible housing system.

30

Nakagin Capsule Tower [Metabolism]

The Nakagin

Capsule tower offers a

unique glimpse of the

effects of time on a building

typology. The tower is the

result of a conglomerate

of architects working to

rethink housing in post-

war Japan. The towers

failures speak more than

its successes. The tower

contains 140 units of around

100 square feet, which,

while small, do not efficiently

use the available space.

The capsules that make up

the tower were meant to

have a lifespan of 25 years

before being replaced.

This was not followed

through, and unfortunately

the experimental building

techniques employed in

their constructions makes

maintenance difficult. While

in many respects the tower

was not successful, the

ideas it embodied are still

pertinent today.

Today 40% of the

buildings capsules serve

as office space. The rest

of the capsules are an

amalgamation of young,

transient, and old tenants.

While some of the tenants

appreciate the history of the

buildings, the majority have

voted to have the building

torn down to build a more

conventional building in its

place.

3.2

32

The buildings units are

interconnected through the soft

space of the atrium via shared

balconies whose minor role

allows for visual connection to

the exterior and interior, as well

as a major role in connecting

single units together to form

larger aggregate unit blocks,

allowing for a dynamic flexibility

of the living condition of the

occupant.

3.3 Songpa Micro Housing [SsD Architects]

Songpa avoids the

stark reality of the provisional

housing aspect of micro-

units through the creation of

“tapioca space” as a socially

constructive framework

for the building. This

ambiguous space between

units acts as a semi-public

extension of the apartments,

creating balconies, visual

connections, and semi-

private circulation. The

[semi]-private aspect

allows for the flexibility of

the units programmatically

acting both as private

residence and public gallery.

Additionally, the below

grade, micro-auditorium

serves as a public gallery

and private common

space. The ambiguous,

soft space of the building

acts as a social condenser,

connecting the private

internal residence space to

the external public realm.

34

Formosa 1140 [LOHA Architect]

Formosa provides

a unique example of the

utilization of private land for

public space. The 11 units of

the building are justified to

one side of the lot, allowing

a third of the site to act as a

public plaza. This park space

acts as both public plaza

and the buildings common

space, allowing every unit

a park view. The larger

purpose behind this gesture

was to set a precedent for

a new typology of urban

park. If proliferated through

the city, this typology

could offer new means of

connection and mobility for

the populace through linking

the existing series of pocket

parks into an urban network.

Through a dynamic

façade, the building creates a

buffer zone between the urban

park space and the private

residence. This is done through

pulling the metal panel skin off

the façade, creating an exterior

circulation zone for the units,

while still concealing more

private sections of the building.

Additionally, the panel system

acts as a solar shade to help

passively cool the residence

within.

3.4

36

DESIGN RESEACH4.0

38

Criteria Testing

[Criteria test 1]

Through

minimizing the size of

privately owned space within

the building system the cost

associated with housing can

be reduced in order to make

ownership a possibility for

those who cannot afford

traditional housing.

[Criteria test 2]

By testing housing

density to its most extreme

levels, the amount of space

and systems necessary to

facilitate habitation by an

individual can be examined

and used as a base point for

module development.

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40

[Criteria test 3]

Allowing for both

linear and cyclical flexibility

within the modules the long

and short term needs of

occupants can be addressed

without redundant,

underutilized space.

[Criteria test 4]

Comparing the

construction cost and square

footage of a module to the

long term environmental

impact of the materials and

fabrication methods used

allows the cost to volume of

the modules to be balanced

with their environmental

impact.

4.1

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42

Framing the Investigation

[Cost Analysis]

Based on census

data, the cost of new

construction for single and

multi-family homes is six

to twelve times the same

construction cost for 350

square feet of living space.

[Unit Organization]

As unit sizes get

smaller, they loose their

autonomy due to the need

to move some amentias

out of the unit. This can be

mitigated through organizing

singular units into larger

blocks. Communal space,

both internal and external,

can be introduced to house

services and relieve pressure

from the housing density.

4.2

44

[User Organization]

In consideration

of differing user groups,

the base unit can act as

an expandable module,

allowing for changes

in the living conditions

of occupants over time

and helping to maintain

space efficiency as well

as encourage long-term

occupancy.

[Social Growth]

To minimize

upfront construction cost,

and foster local interest,

major systems can be

constructed without building

the modules, allowing

the building to grow as

occupants move in and the

community housed within it

expands.

4.2

46

[Module Layout]

The base module

is designed around a single

occupant. Inorder to allow

for shipping, the module is

constrained to a maximum

of 144 square feet. To

fully activate this volume,

compact multinational

furnishings and lofted

spaces are implemented. As

occupants living conditions

change, such as in the event

of a growing family, disability,

or age, additional modules

can be added to expand the

living space.

4.2 288 SQFT V2144 SQFT

48

[As expressed in this series

of models integrating digital

and physical fabrication

methods within interactive

exploratory models

has allowed for spatial,

structural, and conceptual

ideas to be tested rapidly.]

4.2

50

[Construction]

Modules can be

prefabricated off-site to

reduce cost and integrated

into the structure over time,

through designing the

modules structure with their

aggregation in mind the

space required in-between

units for support could be

minimalized.

4.2 CUBE CONSTRUCTION 288 SQFT V1

52

[Sighting]

In order to amplify

the social impact of this

new housing paradigm,

the system can be fielded

within underused spaces in

struggling cities. Through

siting systems in close

proximity to existing and

proposed transportation

infrastructure, occupants

can work far from their

residences without reliance

on personal transportation

and encourage migrants.

These struggling

communities to facilitate

local economic growth.

4.2 BATTLESHIP COVE MONTELLO

54

[On left a series of massing

studies along existing and

proposed commute rail lines

in mass gateway cities.]

4.2 KINGS HIGHWAY WHALES TOOTH

56

Methodology

In working through

my thinking, my method

has consisted of dynamic

physical modeling which

has allowed for spatial aides

to be quickly tested, digital

modeling the precision of

which has prompted the

development of ideas and

both diagrammatic and

atmospheric illustrations to

clearly articulate my thinking.

4.3

58

4.3

60

4.3

62

Timeline

My process

moving forward will be

focused explorations of my

thesis ideas through the

lenses of module, systems,

and field. By overlapping

the focus periods of these

lenses, a feed back loop

can be formed where

thinking in one area can

inform the other. In the final

development of the thesis

the three sections will be

integrated into a singular

formal idea.

4.4

Proposal development

Site development Module development

systems development

field development Final development

Complete Thesis

Pick test bed site for proposal

12-2

0-1

5

Complete site documentation

01-

02-

16

Configure massing to site forces

01-

20-1

6

Begin developing module.

Begin developing systems

01-

27-1

6

Begin developing field

02-

08

-16

02-

02-

16

Complete developing module

Complete developing systems

02-

16-1

6

Complete developing field

03-

27-1

6

03-

06

-16

01-

06

-16

Fir

st d

ay o

f cla

sse

s

02-

06

-23

Mid

term

Complete developing proposal

04-

12-1

6 E

nd

if c

lass

es

04-

20-1

6 E

nd

of t

erm

04-

18-1

6

04-

08

-16

64

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5.0

66

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