Breaking the Habit: A Fight Against the Monotony of Tract Housing
View/ Open
Abstract
This project looks at tract housing from the perspective of the homeowner. Tract housing has caused
an identity crisis within neighborhoods across the nation, and it’s time we start taking a more forward
approach to changing that. Many have tried and failed, but many have taken it on through the
construction of a house. This project looks at the design of a house.
In tract housing there are 4 steps in the process before the homeowner gets in the house. The first
step, the step this project focuses on, is the design of the floor plan. In this step, designers design
houses that end up in a library for the developers to pick and choose from. Next is the development
step, where the developers choose their floor plans and create the neighborhood they are going to
build. Following that is construction, when the houses are actually built, where others have tried to
change the process and have failed. Last is to sell the house to the homeowner.
By focusing on the design of the house instead of the construction of a house, we can start thinking
of things in a different light. There are rooms in a house that are in every house, and with that
knowledge we can create standardized spaces that we can use to assemble a house.