Returning Home: Collective Dwelling Through Incremental Architecure
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Abstract
Thomas Moore defined home at three scales: the psyche which shelters
our souls, the physical place that we make domesticity in, and the
broader metaphysical context in which we find our culture, history, and
selves within. Today however, housing in the United States is birthed
by economic interests, creating modernized "units" that are detached
from humanity and the way we dwell. Consequently, the "American Dream"
for new generations has been disintegrated, and our built environment
has lost its ability to relate to the broader contexts of our lives.
To combat the consequences of an inflating housing market, the
federal government has created economically reductive social housing
projects, exacerbating the issue through "efficient" architecture
and inhumane impositions that manifest even more inhumane
conditions. The most notorious examples of this approach are the
failed housing projects at Pruitt-Igoe, in St. Louis, Missouri.
This thesis reexamines the process of creating home as one intrinsically
related to dwelling. By providing a community with foundational facilities
to support its growth over the old site of Pruitt-Igoe, this project
explores the possibility for incremental interventions across the site
that may be developed to create tangible connections between the residents
themselves and the broader context of home at its various scales.