the INCREMENTAL house

https://www.archdaily.com/772414/ga-designs-radical-shipping-container-skyscraper-for-mumbai-slum I have been approached multiple times this year by people who think shipping containers are the best solution to reducing costs in housing. I hate to bust their bubble, but plainly put, they are not a good solution.  Recently, I came across an excellent critique of this phenomenom by Architect Mark Hogan.   In his piece titled "What's Wrong with Shipping Container Housing?  Everything." he highlights why shipping containers are not a solution for mass housing: Housing is usually not a technology problem. All parts of the world have vernacular housing, and it usually works quite well for the local climate. There are certainly places with material shortages, or situations where factory built housing might be appropriate - especially when an area is recovering from a disaster. In this case prefab buildings would make sense- but doing them in containers does not. I...

I have a lot to say about the rise and popularity of Tiny Homes, but will go more in depth in a future post.  In the meantime, I have come across some innovative applications beyond the standard 200 SF idyllic house on a trailer out in nature (thanks treehugger.com!).  Designed by VIVA Collectiv, I love these because they take a small module and think about it in a way that it can be aggregated to create new spaces, both inside and out.  The Ohana:  Copyright: Craig Williams, Viva Collectiv  The first is called the Ohana and essentially combines two tiny homes and uses the space in between to create an additional space.  Here is how Treehugger.com describes it: "With each side comprising 176 square feet of usable space, and the sunroom adding another 247 square feet, the total comes in at just a hair under 600 square feet of usable space. While a bit larger than the standard tiny home, it’s a wonderfully novel way to live big while still on the...

Designed to be adaptable and ultimately built-out by its inhabitants, the Naked House is another concept in a long line of housing proposals that apply the ideas of adaptability and flexibility in attempt to make the housing more affordable.  With a goal of reducing initial upfront costs, each unit is delivered in its naked state, beginning with a bare 50 square meters that houses a wet core of bathroom and kitchen, but no additional walls, floors or finishes.  After that, the inhabitants can expand and adapt the space into an 87 square meter, three bedroom home: "Clever design moves include a double-height space with a mezzanine and built-in ledge around the perimeter at first floor height, making it easy to add joists and create an extra floor, while a sturdy garden wall with a party wall agreement already in place makes building a rear extension a question of simply adding a roof. Services will sim- ply be housed in a sunken perimeter channel cast into the floor slabs a...

My visit to Quinta Monroy in 2008 convinced me that incremental housing was a viable approach to helping solve the problems of housing affordability, quality and availability in many parts of the world.  This project, designed by ELEMENTAL, reminded me that sometimes the best architecture is less architecture.  The beauty of this project is that it is designed to change over time, and it is doing just that.  And maybe even a little too much. One of the community leaders of the Quinta Monroy project (which I highlighted in 2008) put me in touch with the Brazilian photographer Fernando Bellia, who was putting together images of the project for an exhibit.  We were able to share some images and he provided me with some updated photographs from 2013.  I was able to place them next to images I had taken in 2008 to show how the project has continued to evolve incrementally.  Image Credit: Luke W. Perry & Fernando Bellia Image Credit: Luke W. Per...

In 2017, ELEMENTAL, the firm that has helped pioneer incremental housing in a more more modern context has shared their drawings and construction details of the a number of their most prominent projects, including Quinta Monroy .  You can download the ABC's of Incremental Housing here . These should be used more as a reference and conceptual approach on better understanding how such buildings can and should be designed and subsequently built.  However, anyone looking to actually execute such a project should adjust the design and construction methods to meet local conditions, regulations, etc. I am grateful for ELEMENTAL for sharing this kind of open source knowledge so that such ideas may more easily be implemented instead of just talked about.  With that said, it would be nice to see some conclusions on what worked well and what didn't.  While I know later projects by ELEMENTAL were variations of Quinta Monroy, sharing a constructive critique and analysis o...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/world/middleeast/cairo-mural-garbage.html?module=inline Much of the informal housing around the identified by an aesthetic that is often seen as unsightly and uncontrolled, as it is one of constant change and pure utility in many cases.  And yet, in the eyes of many, particularly those who hold power, these neighborhoods often represent areas that need to be "controlled". Some recent efforts in Cairo highlight the differences in two approaches.  One approach highlighted is in this article from the New York Times, where President Sisi is wanting all buildings along the way to the pyramids to be painted, so they will look better from the main road, with the expectation that buildings owners would pay for it.   When I drove along the road to the pyramids many years ago, I was astounded by the scale and pace of the farmland being converted into housing, much of it unregulated in Giza.  And yet, in the midst of it, people...