The second assigned project involved the design of a built space for the Washington Park Community. During the semester, I met with staff at the Habitat for Humanity and discussed common housing issues and tendencies that they have documented. Home foreclosures and vacancies are a major issue within the neighborhood. Vacancies create spaces devoid of human engagement, unsafe pedestrian conditions and are aesthetically unpleasing. Several of these vacancies are due to the fact that current housing lacks an ability to easily adapt to changing family and social dynamics. I chose to design a prototype home that established flexible and adaptable interior space. The structural components and main circulation core remain static within the home, but any nonstructural wall can be modified to accommodate the needs of the end-user.
This prototypical home is flexible and easily adaptable to the needs of its inhabitants. The building is replicable on a variety of sites and locations with minor modifications. The prototype may function as a residence for two separate families or as a home for a multi-generational family. It accommodates a store/business in the lower floor if necessary, thus transforming the building into a mixed-use unit. While the core structure of the building remains the same, the secondary non-structural walls allow for greater flexibility and may be changed. Thermal floor masses, adaptable shading and rainwater collection systems are some of the implementations that make the home ecologically sustainable.