Photographs 1, 10, 11, and 12 by the Crystal Bridges Museum. Photographs 6, 7, 8 and 9 by Shane Richey.
When we were approached by the Crystal Bridges Museum to do a housing prototype for the ‘Architecture at Home’ exhibit we thought about the lessons learned from our exploration into building typologies. We have learned that building typologies are only one piece of a complex puzzle, and our goal for the exhibit turned to exposing the complex Housing System.
The fragmented prototype is not a housing solution. It materializes within the rigid system—represented by a grid of columns—attempting to expose it. The “incomplete” structure prompts viewers to ask “What or who is missing?” Mexican handcrafted wood columns and pottery reject the idea that the housing system must be a rigid set of rules and celebrate the customization, empowerment, and diversity that can exist within a Flexible Housing System.
Concurrently with the ‘prototype’ we developed collages and an interactive website www.storiesabouthousing.com representing the housing system with its basic subsystems—land acquisition, financing, permitting, and construction—and what we envision a more flexible housing system should be.