A0.0_Past Residence

This post has been long over due as imagery has been posted and circulated on our social media accounts with not content to explain their relevance or meaning. Past Residence is my summer project / class that will begin to aid and situate the beginning of my thesis this coming fall. Below is an expert from my thesis proposal submitted to the university last semester explaining the concept and direction of the course. 

"Past residence is the foundation and starting block for the entire investigation. Carl Sagan said, “You have to know the past to understand the present.” The history of housing is complex because it is the core of human society. It is qualified as one of the basic necessities of life after food and water. To begin to intelligently understand housing through the lens of architecture it is important to understand the migration of people and the ways that they have lived.
The way groups have migrated to and within cities has played a major role in the development of different housing types and structures. It has also led to the development of zoning and planning standards within the cities. Understanding these migration paths from the past and analyzing current migration patterns will be able to give the research context within current housing trends. Housing in the United States is filled with case studies where architects responded to current trends in society. This results in different styles and approaches to architecture each creating a different experience for the inhabitance and different interactions taking place within the communities. The research would begin to developed a set of projects to be used as case studies. The housing based case studies will be submitted to analysis based off criteria including project goals, housing type, socio economic and political factors, location within the city, and its connection to the urban fabric. In addition, these projects will be assessed on their ability to demonstrate their resilience and withstand the pressures of society and the dynamic context in which they are a part of. The goal is not to create a list of best practices that could be continuously repeated and beaten to death, nor will it be a list that paints large brush strokes of success or failure on a singular project. Instead, it will be an architectural account of how design addressed emerging trends within the context of the building and the repercussions of these formal decisions."

The chosen format at the time was what I believed to be fairly simple and was to be kept inconstant across all the projects to allow for comparison and equal evaluation. 

Format:
- Image of the project in use by residents 
- Project Data (Year built, Architect, Units)
- Project description outlining social issues that effected the project
- Plan Oblique drawing of the housing project within context 
- Diagram to help explain a part of the project 
- Two Architectural elements highlighted broken down and explored 
- Other photos/ Diagrams and my personal reflection of the project 

In total this summer I will be exploring 10-20 different housing project both new and old in North America. Some will be examples of success while some will be historical failures. As the research has developed and case studies identified I found a large amount of them to be social housing projects. Although this was not the intention and I have no definitive conclusion if this is a good or bad I found it an interesting aspect to bring up. Once all is said and done with Past Residence I will be sure to report back and see if this aspect has had an significance in my research or trajectory for the future. Below area a couple of the plan oblique drawing that I have completed. As the text and other imagery gets finalized I will begin to post full spreads.

AW

First Houses, New York 

Central Village, Winnipeg 

Pruitt–Igoe, St. Louis