mass homing: Modeling

Welcome to the Montana State University Farmworker Housing Studio

Welcome to the Montana State University Farmworker Housing Studio
This blog is a collection of design research done by graduate students at the Montana State University School of Architecture who are looking at farmworker housing shortages in the Yakima Valley of Washington State. The studio is being assisted by the Office of Rural and Farmworker Housing and the Catholic Charities Housing Services in Yakima, and will include input from the UN-Habitat Housing and Slum Upgrading Branch. The studio prompt is to study the relationships between infrastructure and infill, home and place, mobility and permanence, boundaries and community. What kind of infrastructure is required for different kinds of farmworkers in the USA? Can this infrastructure perform technically, socially, economically, and poetically? What are the tectonics of home, the architecture of economics, and how can design facilitate better living conditions for these communities? In short, how does mass-housing become mass-homing?
Our goal is to take advantage of our academic setting to offer new ideas and approaches to a persistent challenge. With this in mind, we aspire to imagine diverse approaches to affordable farmworker housing that perform optimally for its users' diverse values, interests and desires. We welcome your feedback so please leave comments, suggestions and ideas.
For direct questions or comments please contact David Fortin at david.fortin@montana.edu or at 406-994-7579.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Modeling

This is one of the the first site plans that uses the idea of smaller community pockets. The white is the commercial/ work spaces and community amenities that are spread out through the site. The Gray are the different housing that open up to both the public corridors and to the semi-private interior courtyard. This design will change and downsize the amount of retail / workspaces.

This is the first run though of two of the housing units. They would be two story with balcony's on the south side and staggered to create privacy in their balcony's. The lower part of the house opens up to the shared courtyard. The bedrooms would be upstairs and there would be an open plan downstairs. the wood slating was an exploration of a way that siding could be done.

This is the second iteration of the housing units. The work spaces have been downsized and easily accessible from the units. there are four units in this, the tow on the sides and the there is two in the middle chunk.