Architecture
Northeast Denver Housing competition
The proposed Northeast Housing Center in Denver transitions from the noise of a largely commercial district to a more residential neighborhood while providing a mid-scale pedestrian ‘anchor’ for a busy intersection.
Individual homes are intended to carry the resident from public to increasingly private areas as they move further from the street and higher into the house. By shifting the stair halfway to the outside, the shaded southeast-facing wall is freed up for windows and balconies, giving each room windows on three sides. The stair draws cool air in low and vents hot air out high, acting as both a thermal chimney and as the organizer of the house. The act of ‘winding’ through the house creates opportunities for multiple and layered gives views of the outside and from space to space - a passerby along the sidewalk seen from the front porch, a child seen going upstairs from the kitchen, a glimpse of sky from the stair.
Residences are built with a simple modular system of 6’-0” and 8’-0” long panels of 8’-0” high 2x stud framing erected on floors of standard platform framing. A continuous service wall of 2×8 construction extends from basement to roof, providing a dedicated space for plumbing, venting, conduit, and future photovoltaic panel connection. A ‘flat’ roof reduces overall building height, allowing for the potential addition of rooms, while remaining within current zoning ordinances.
Designed with affordability and efficiency in mind, a rectilinear layout and modular system of construction ensures ease of erection, flexibility, minimization of cutoff waste, and use of local materials with low embodied energy and small lumber sizes. Potential additional savings and balance of sustainable construction could include prefabrication of panels and other building elements offsite using unskilled volunteers during off-hours, shipping onsite, and erecting using local labor. Long-term savings on operating costs are made possible by the greater reliance on natural light and passive ventilation, as well as efficient radiator heat, rather than on costly fossil-based fuels and inefficient forced-air systems.
Award announcement, AIA Architect, July 2001
- Architects Ben Gauslin, Dave Hampton
- Location Denver, CO
- Design 2001
- Awards Award of Merit, AIA Young Architects Forum Building Community: Partnership for Affordable Housing Infill Competition