continuing the study of housing for the semester, this project was centered around a four unit housing development located in south pasadena.
in beginning the project we were asked to develop a user profile for our development. for my development, i selected young professionals who as friends wanted to purchase a four unit complex. with this initial selection, i looked to utilize the common phrase "single and ready to mingle;" single, reflecting their need for privacy and a sense of space, and mingle reflecting their desire to come together in community, most notably in their desire to throw parties.
in beginning the project we were asked to develop a user profile for our development. for my development, i selected young professionals who as friends wanted to purchase a four unit complex. with this initial selection, i looked to utilize the common phrase "single and ready to mingle;" single, reflecting their need for privacy and a sense of space, and mingle reflecting their desire to come together in community, most notably in their desire to throw parties.
this phrase began to form basic program decisions, largely in the separation of private (single), and community (mingle) spaces. the very linear units lent themselves very well to this separation with the bedrooms placed in the rear of the units and the larger community spaces towards the front. in order to take full advantage of the community spaces, each one was programmed individually creating four different types of spaces; a large dining space, a larger kitchen, an entertainment room, and a relaxation and study space.
this single/mingle relationship was also introduced in the occupiable roof plane. with the shifting of the units, the geometry allows each unit to have a private rear balcony, shaded by the adjacent unit. separated from the private balcony by the roof stair is the large public roof deck. this roof deck, like the community spaces is broken up into different types of spaces, this time through the use of bands of planted space. this addition of planted space allows for the development of more open gathering spaces on the southern side which opens up to the garden below, and smaller, more intimate spaces to the northern residential side, reducing noise pollution for the plots north of the development.
