Create a multi-use building and space that acts as an attractor for redevelopment in one of New Haven's up-and-coming nine square blocks. Define a work program that requires the response of a new architectural strategy. Insert a live/work housing prototype that adds a vertical profile to downtown while converting an underutilized public path into an urban gesture.
PROGRAM: The introduction of a third food cart zone in New Haven. The site becomes a destination on New Haven’s busiest food streets (Orange St + Crown St) while establishing a new user-base and locale. The linking and fostering of networks becomes a strategy for developing the relationship between LIVING space and WORKING space and also the overlap between units within the building.
MOVING ROOM: Add a shared and negotiated live/work space. Residents would rent and appropriate the space as a means of expanding their environment. This space can be communal if used on the shared floors or private if attached to living units. The greater community sees the space as a spectacle and interfaces with it when it services the park. The position of the room in profile would be synonymous with certain activities. Common living/working clusters can negotiate the borrowing of the room as a shared common space for multiple residents. It becomes a discussion among the complex and its desirability keeps it active.
PROGRAM: Live-work Housing
CONTEXT: New Haven, CT, USA
CRITIC: Joel Sanders
(1) LIVE: Three clusters of individual unit types; can be rented as a multi-unit space; (2) WORK: Open work space is sandwiched between living units; work (cooking) is seen as an extension of the home and a community activity; (3) SHARE: Private and public communities are invited to move through the complex; aromas and sounds travel; (4) CART CITY: The public realm is both a test market and your backyard. Prepare food in your kitchen and transport your cart directly to market.