Mat Social Housing - Living Machine

Core Studio • Urban Ecology

Rhode Island School of Design • Fall 2017

The topic of housing facilitates a polarized discussion among divided social-economical classes. The lack of architectural solution in affordable housing draws a clear line between living as lifestyle vs. living as necessity. Lower incoming zones are given the solution of mass produced houses with low maintenance, whereas the financially-powered area are receiving the bespoke treatment of community living.

The proposal takes advantage of a large site to substantially introduce new typology. The urban ecosystem facilitates harmonies interactions among various scale of activities, ranging from clusters of units to large playground, the exterior spaces of the units are given equal consideration as the interior. Two sites are strategically chosen to hold a residential complex containing one hundred units as well as a water purification machine encased with public amenities.

Greater Site Analysis

Based on the operation status and the purpose of every building on the greater site, an average activity heat map can be generated. The contrasting cooling tones within the map are vacant and underdeveloped pathways.