Living out west : shelter, neighbor and garden

Abstract

In cluster housing each house becomes more than a single entity-it is connected to and a member of a community of dwellings. Their designs focus on both the formation of the "home" and the "neighborhood" in which they exist. This thesis is the design exploration of medium density cluster housing on a twenty-five acre site in Northern California. It investigates the making of housing which retains qualities associated with single-family houses, residential form which supports a community while providing privacy, and the incorporation of "formal/physical" variety to build diversity and choice in housing. The thesis design explores the translation and adaptation of architectural attitudes and forms expressed in a number of California houses. It also investigates the building of shared and private space and the transition between the two. A trio of building forms were designed and the spatial principals to assemble the cluster and neighborhood forms which they comprise. Throughout the design process three attitudes guided decision making; connection and extension to outdoor spaces, provision for neighboring and privacy, and identity and choice through the repetition and variation of physical form.