Creating Change: A Global Sustainable Housing Initiative
Arch 301:
Summer 2007
Instructors: William Jelen and Rauzia Ally
For links click any of the underlined words below as needed:
Hypothesis:
History is the study of change. Change occurs from the collision of opposing forces. Individuals have always been the stewards of progress (or change). With the globalization of the world, our focus and responsibility no longer rests solely within our communities but in the world at large.
How does ONE person identify the opposing forces that will implement progress or change? Perhaps by simply investigating two scenarios or conditions and the various opposing forces inherent in them, then by comparing and contrasting them to unearth the intersections and when you find the opposing forces, you find change.
Problem – A Global Housing Crisis:
One billion people currently live in urban slums. Millions more live in inadequate rural housing. UN studies have warned that this figure is expected to double within the next 30 years. The affordable housing crisis even hits the city of Washington DC and cuts across a wide range of incomes. Among the 60% of D.C. residents who live in rental housing, even middle class families are feeling the pressure as the real estate boom puts heavy demands on existing housing. At the same time, the supply of affordable homes is leaching away. Almost no new low- and moderate-income rental housing has been built in a generation. In light of these daunting statistics, this housing studio will investigate two very different housing problems simultaneously and attempt to form solutions that will share the characteristics of being affordable, sustainable and programmatically enriching.
As a means to the above end we will be forging two partnerships over the course of this studio to execute two very different housing projects. By examining both problems simultaneously we will attempt to harness the opposition and create change.
Results:
- June 6
- June 18
- July 11
- August 3
Project Background:
Jacob's Ladder
Existing Site
Program
Master Plan
Sustainability
Photographs
Manna
Existing Site
Program
Preliminary Plan
Afordability
Photographs
Additional Research and Web Links:
Course description - ARCH 301 (6 cr.)
ARCH 301 explores dwellings through the lens of SIA’s theme of Stewardship. Understanding the basics of good housing—housing that transcends mere "shelter"— is important in the training of an architect. Multiple unit housing is a special building type that calls upon a great deal of knowledge and understanding by an architect in order to be of service to society. In the exploration of the public/private spectrum throughout a variety scales, from city to room to the elements of architecture (and possibly to furniture), students are introduced to the ability of architecture to provide opportunities for social interaction and shape individual behavior to become a catalyst in social change. In addition to the abstract design skills involving form, space, and light— human needs and desires, contextual issues, structure, tectonics, knowledge of basic climate and environmental considerations, and basic zoning and building code issues will need to be understood and taken into account in your designs. The nature of domesticity in its cultural context and site context as an important design determinate will also be explored.
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Last Revised 07-Jun-07 10:59 AM.
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