the INCREMENTAL house

As Gazans are now slowly returning to their completely destroyed neighborhoods, conversations are inevitably ramping up about how to rebuild in the midst of such comprehensive destruction.  While the challenges and potential solutions are far beyond the scope for me to explore here, there will continue to be an immediate need to house people in safe, sanitary and dignified way.   One cautionary tale is the IKEA Better Shelter Design , which was released to great fanfare, including receiving many design awards after it was released in 2015.  Since then, there have been a number of issues related to the design and functionality of it and numerous complaints from the users themselves.  When I first saw this design, I appreciated the functionality and ability of it to be deployed quickly in many different locations and situations.  However, I was curious about the possibility of aggregation as well as customization and adaptability for local cultures since li...

One of the reasons that we have an acute homelessness crisis in the United States is that we have lost (and no longer provide) certain kinds of housing that used to shelter our poorest and most vulnerable populations.   Single Room Occupancy (SRO's) were once a critical source of housing for those living on the edge.  People could rent single rooms by the week, with shared baths and kitchens, all at a very affordable rate.  Often times, these "flophouses", as they came to be known, were the last line between someone having a roof over their head or living on the street (see Paul Groth's essential book, Living Downtown ).   Over the last 30-40 years, most of these have been destroyed through urban renewal and redevelopment, essentially eliminating one of the most vital sources of deeply affordable housing in cities. We have also moved away from housing designs that provided flexibility that also provided small and affordable housing for people on the margins...

As a follow-up to the previous post on shipping containers, I did come across a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Georgetown, SC that is trying to develop extremely low cost housing using shipping containers .  In order to meet the needs of very low income seniors, they have had to think outside the box, which led them back to the box.  The article states the following:  "The nonprofit expects the cost of creating a container home to come in around $25,000, covering everything but the full-size appliances, which are donated. With the cost of land, site preparation and moving the container home, the final cost is projected to be about $65,000." Kudos to them for trying a new approach.  If the numbers hold and they can deliver a one-bedroom for $65k, including land, then they may be onto something. Based on their numbers, this would put their actual construction costs at $90/ SF.  With that said, most of the critiques from the previous post exist here.  How ...

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...

Check out this fascinating video , highlighting Bolivia's "Indigenous Bourgeoisie" , which is growing signficanlty with Evo Morales continued tenure are President and a growing economy.  It highlights the city of El Alto and the Andean Style architecture, which has a unique aesthetic, but uses the house in to generate and create income to help fuel the new buying power of a historically powerless population. El Alto was also the focus of my study in 2009 where I highlighted these very issues. 

In the summer of 2011, I was able to return to Nairobi, as a team member of Mathare Valley slum-upgrading program.  I stopped by the Kambimoto upgrading project that I had documented in the summer of 2008, and found that it has continued to grow, adapt, and change. The Kambimoto project was a result of many years of diligent work by Pamoja Trust working with a small slum in the Mathare Valley, north of Nairobi.  The resulting housing was incremental, where each family started with a basic one bedroom, one-story space that could eventually be expanded vertically up to three stories.  In 2008, the project was still under construction, although many units had been completed and families had moved in.  In 2011, the entire project was still under development due to lack of funds, but many individual units had been expanded and the overall space had been transformed significantly.

http://www.dezeen.com/2009/05/05/incremental-housing-strategy-by-filipe-balestra-and-sara-goransson/ An interesting project surfaced on Dezeen that highlighted an incremental upgrading strategy in Pune, India, which was to be designed to be implemented in other places as well.  While the images provide a provocative and compelling new vision of the community, they are basically reorganizing and formalizing what the people and the communities are already doing.  It does beg the question if we give ourselves (architects) too much credit for coming up with something new and game changing. 

  Driving down US-19 from Bryson City to Cherokee, NC, there exists a campground that is unique even for Western North Carolina.  While it is not uncommon to see RV's with permanent roofs built over them, this particular campground in the small community of Ella was extraordinary because so many of the structures, as well as the community itself, had become permanent. Most campgrounds of this sort provide summer havens for people from the deep south.  In the summer, they can bring their homes up to the cooler mountains, and then in winter, they can take them back where it is warmer.  However, many people now live in this community permanently, as they have found a way to exand their living space while not having to pay the high costs of land and materials typicaly in many houses in Western North Carolina.

20k house Last year, I took a trip to Hale County, Alabama.  My goal was to connect with Pam Dorr, the director of HERO (Hale Empowerment and Revitalization Organization).  We arrived one spring day just in time for lunch, and she suggested we get some catfish at the local gas station, Mustang Oil. Soon, the four of us has ballooned into 10 people.  We ran into the local judge, and some long term and short term locals soon joined us, including a filmmaker from Maine, and a psychiatrist from California who has set up a live-in farm as an alternative to an institution.  Heading into the gas station, it seemed like catfish and oil would make strange bedfellows.  But, I was quick to discover it was a good one, and that Hale County was full of such unlikely combinations.

Looking down at Tahrir Square (Source: http://liveblogs.globalnews.ca) It has been extraordinary to watch the events in Egypt unfold in the last few days. In some ways, it is absolutely shocking to see the extent to which ordinary citizens have shed their fear of the government. Yet, on the other hand, it is amazing that it has taken this long. Having navigated the complete chaos of the city , visited and met citizens living in deep poverty and unimaginable living conditions, and finally watching new cities for the wealthy develop on the outskirts of Cairo, it became clear to me how broken Egyptian society had become.

Mary is currently living by herself, as she and her husband are getting a divorce. Originally, in 1984, they had a three bedroom manufactured/mobile home, but got a larger one still with three bedrooms. During this time, they had two daughters. They added a pool/workout room that now serves as a play space for the grandchildren. Unfortunately, it does not have a heat source and stays closed off in the winter. During this time, they also put a new roof on because they old one leaked. They expanded their porch and began to re-side the entire house. As Mary said, “We wanted to make it into a house.” Two years ago, they remodeled the kitchen. There were plans to remodel the rest of it, but those are on hold because of the pending divorce.

Additions include porches, new roofs, new siding, garages, and additional rooms. I have found a number of trends in terms of how people have changed their mobile/manufactured homes. Most people find that they are built cheaply and need to make repairs or remodel, or people just want/need more space. (most of the homes I have been looking at are single-wide, just because it is an easy module to compare).

Manufactured home park in Boone, NC. I spent some time exploring mobile homes in Western North Carolina. Having served as the most effective and extensive affordable housing option in the United States for the past 50 years, I was curious to learn a little more about the uses of mobile homes here, especially since many of them have been adapted and changed. Many people (especially architects) think that manufactured housing is the only way to effectively address the affordable housing crisis in the US. Unfortunately, the past is littered with brilliant architectural minds failing miserably in using mass production to produce well designed, high quality, and affordable homes. (read the excellent book: The Prefabricated Home by Colin Davies).

Seven weeks after the disaster, a number of recent news pieces have highlighted how now is the time to begin shifting people out of the tent camps and into different kinds of housing. This has many merits but inevitably raises lots of questions. One approach that has been advocated by some is trying to get people back into their communities/homesites as soon as possible. It can begin to ween people from the dependency of the foreign aid system. As we have already seen, such camps are not set up to deal with the onset of rains, etc. Additionally, by integrating people back into their communities, they can begin to re-establish social support structures that would likely provide greater resiliency. Of course, this can only happen once the rubble is removed, or the sites are deemed safe, which is a huge challenge. A number of groups are working on this very task, providing many Haitians with some much needed cash.

Some thoughts related to incremental housing vs. traditional approaches in the case of Haiti. 1) People could get homes built initially much more quickly because they are building less. However, there would probably need to be as much planning up front. But once, a system or framework is in place, the planning doesn't have to go on and on, it can be tweaked for each place or context....without creating cookie cutter mass produced stuff. That is what is beautiful about it....it can take on a life of its own, and have individuality, culture, context, and place embedded in it without the architects designing it in. Also, like many good projects, there will need to be deep community involvement. Incremental housing would allow such involvement to exist, but keep it more focused and take up less time, which is critical in this case.