This project was a collaboration with Louvis Services, a local nonprofit specializing in creative housing solutions to homelessness. Before this partnership and mission were realized, the home was initially developed with no defined site or occupant. However, it was always intended to function as a “deployable” model home. The challenge of the assignment was to create a prototypical “Tiny-House” that can adapt to numerous programmatic applications: an accessory dwelling unit, a starter home, or infill housing. The students were also asked to provide a model home that could easily be deployed and quickly assembled amidst dense urban settings. Therefore, the sizing of components was crucial to the project’s success.
In addition to portability, affordability also had to be carefully considered throughout the design/build process. These factors influenced the development of a prefabricated system of panels that could be “flat-packed” and delivered using a common quarter-ton pickup truck and a standard two-axle trailer. In addition, the construction system relies upon common building materials aiming to keep the vision achievable amidst various locations of the region. Despite a reliance upon the standardized replicable assembly system, the prototype also provides opportunity for customization through variation in window, cladding and screening options.
Late in construction of the prototype, a user and site were identified, and the project will be used as transitional housing for occupants escaping homelessness. That program greatly influenced final developments of the scheme’s secure covered outdoor porch, its screening, and its security – as it is expected that the user may initially experience comfort in transition by first sleeping on the porch.
