Tiny Homes
New solutions for youth homelessness in Bronzeville neighborhood, Chicago.
The purpose of our project is to build a community by using a simple and well-known design for housing modules.
Tiny homes are the simplification of the classical american house: they have a front yard, a backyard and the two splitted volumes are covered with a pitched roof (this point allows to install, in the future, solar panels on the southwards slope).
The modules are arranged on the Eastern and Western edges of the plot so in the middle two communal spaces take place: a community building and a playground/plaza.
The housing module is divided into two parts with different heights: in the lower one, facing the street, the bathroom and the bedroom take place while the higher one houses the living/dining/kitchen. From this “social” room there is the access to the backyard, a patio facing the inner space of the community.
The difference in height and the pitched roofs would avoid the feeling of being in a “copy-paste” space. This will is represented as well by painting housing modules in two different colors (any guest could change the color according to institutions).
The structure is a wooden frame (2”x6” studs on 24” centers) with metal cladding (corrugated sheet).
The communal space is divided into three “boxes”, one for each main function: office space, meeting place and laundry facility (with an independent access).