PROTOTYPE HOUSING

[GraduateDesign 2. Instructor: Tollefson]

Due to an imbalance in international trade, estimates are that nearly half a million shipping containers currently sit unused on both coasts of the United States. Costs vary on unused containers. But when purchased in bulk from distributors (typically in excess of 5,000), they dip as low as $500 apiece for 40-foot-long models. These containers are inherently stable structures capable of supporting incredibly high live loads. There is currently a need for over 200,000 houses on native reservation across the nation. As such, this is an investigation into the use of a shipping container as a module of construction for affordable housing in the Pueblo Nation. The modular nature of traditional Pueblo construction (and, in turn, domestic culture) lends itself to contemporary reinterpretation through prefabrication methods.

The cultural roots of the Pueblo Nation drove these designs through 3 primary avenues:

1. FORMAL ADAPTABILITY AND MODULAR AGGREGATION

2. COMMUNAL CENTRALITY

3. COMMUNAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY

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SITE BY: ANDREW BRORSON | COPYRIGHT 2008-10
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.