This house is the result of a collaboration between a renowned experimental school of architecture and a world famous affordable housing developer. It represents the mergence of two complimentary missions; to educate Architects who will imagine and shape the future and to provide safe, decent, affordable housing for all. The house is intended to challenge the status quo of sustainable / affordable housing in both form and content.  The student designed and constructed project strives to answer a typical residential program in an atypical way.

The unique characteristics of the house are the result of two main drivers. The first is the real context of the site; The typical built response to crime and violence throughout the neighborhood comes in the form of bars on windows and fences at the front of the property. This design response strives to create an alternative form of sanctuary. What appears to be the front of the house is actually a thickened threshold to an indoor-outdoor entry court protected from the realities of the street. The second driver is the sustainability of the project. The design synthesizes sustainable features into an overall aesthetic exemplified in the form of the house and the ‘eco-screen’ that encloses the entry court.

The form of the house comes from an exploration of an unadorned extruded two story gable roof profile. The gable roof profile was a compelling starting point because of the iconic power of it (keying into the history of habitat for humanity) and its relationship to conventional residential construction. The extruded geometry was challenged through a series of design operations to make it work differently than a conventional house. The south elevation is tilted to thicken the wall for added insulation and to provide shading for the inset windows. The north end roof at the front of the house is ‘cut’ to provide northern top light into a balcony, a bedroom and the entry courtyard. The east and west sides of the house have ‘eco-screens’ set into the facade and roof. These performative openings create a protected outdoor environment.