Statement

Twenty-two building envelopes are activated by the insertion of carefully programmed, pre-fabricated modules. Each self-supporting module comes pre-wired, piped, and ready to interlock to create the full range of housing and commercial types required. The selection of modules from a kit of parts can be customized for tailored living space while offering Habitat the efficiency of high quality designs, ‘wired for living,’ at an affordable rate. The modules’ potential for recombination allows Sunrise Park to assume a long-term adaptability. The ratio of subsidized to market rate housing could conceivably be altered as conditions in the neighborhood or the economy shift in order to prevent the process of gentrification.

While the pre-fab modules might inhabit any type of shell, thus making them adaptable to any number of sites or uses, building envelopes respond in a site-specific manner with respect to views, privacy, and individual identity. The orientation to the street of the Habitat-built timber-frame shells, and the interspersed gravel drives define an informal visual language coherent with the surroundings. Commercial space acts as a gateway to the community and accommodates daycare, market, or dining in a similar manner.

The louvered shells act as both sun and wind shield to protect the inner structures, aid in the conservation of energy, and promote cross ventilation with seasonal ease. Their transparency permits identification of units, fostering a sense of private ownership. The blurred boundary between indoors and out has suggested a weaving circulation system, creating semi-private terraces as extensions to personal living quarters.