Statement

As Habitat for Humanity defines new strategies in urban housing, it must challenge its own methods and approaches, but not its ideals. The dignity and stability of a home is a universal right, which can be achieved with integrity in a dense urban environment. Privacy, sense of ownership, community, and inclusivity must still guide Habitat in its new ventures.

The Sunrise community has identified a short, mid-block street as the public space core of its sense of identity and social cohesion. This pattern re-emerges in our proposal in a new form but ready to nurture the neighborly bonds of residents new and old.

Because of the existing topography, public open space can be maximized by locating parking partly under buildings. With parking as near as possible to each unit, the parking zones become almost part of the building program. Parking lanes of this sort are utilized in more varied ways than the typical residual peripheral spaces.

A clear distinction between fronts and backs suggests a central linear court framed by half-block parcels. This straightforward site strategy is replicable in many redevelopment contexts.

The unit plans, building plans, and site plan are designed around passages -- pockets of openness within the necessary density. Organized in a regular way within building plans, the open space slots intersect the parking and park zones to produce a loose plaid of circulation, providing potential for richer interactions between residents.

In a world of environmental constraints, the city must become humanity’s true habitat once again.