POCKET COMMUNITY

CRAFTING CONNECTIONS

This pocket community project aims to put people and their shared connections first. Our vision was to design a small housing space that helps foster a sense of community, the sharing of resources and an interdependence among the residents. The houses are small and efficient, so the occupants need to clean and maintain less, leaving time for play, exploration, and pleasure. The site is structured around a community green space and a garden. The homes of varying sizes and configurations are connected by multi-use public/ private platforms which encourage gathering and extend the living space outdoors. There are several storage buildings and a small community building for use by all. The cars are relegated to the edges of the site.

One of the housing options in this project is a shared house which includes one kitchen, one bath and one laundry space and two separate and distinct living/ sleeping wings. Families of varying configurations can use this house as a care-giving home, a co-housing opportunity, or a live-work scenario.

The homes are small, yet efficient and open with ample natural light and storage. The goal is to use natural passive heating and cooling strategies to condition the spaces. Auxiliary small, individual mini-split systems will be optional. Solar will be added if desired.

This project challenges the single-family home status-quo. We believe that redefining and redesigning the standard neighborhood model, which tends to isolate us from one another and promote consumption, into a connected system of attainable homes with both shared and private spaces encourages collaboration, social engagement and connected dependence lacking in most of our lives.

Do we all really need our own rakes and snow shovels, refrigerators, driveways, furnaces, and bathrooms? Should we be putting our cars first, both literally and figuratively, when we design new and much needed housing places? Why do we all need to be living alone? What is living alone doing to our society? Is our current way of building housing sustainable? Do we need so much space? Is there a better way? These are some of the questions we asked when designing POCKET COMMUNITY.

Option 1: Shared House 864 SF / Private House 432 SF