Affordable Housing Concept

My name is Trevor Wakeland I'm a senior at Lafayette High School. The objective of this work flow is to produce an affordable housing solution while incorporating shipping containers into the design. The design utilizes 8 shipping containers to create a structure containing two units that can house a family each. Each unit is about 640 ft^2 and contains two beds, two baths, a living room, and a kitchen.

Key Ideas

• Affordability
• Modularity
• Transportability
• Adaptability

The name of the game for this challenge was to make it modular so that concept was a key part of the design process for this project. From the Floor plan view areas are segregated into their very own container giving us four different container types. There is the living room container, the kitchen container, the kids bed container, and the master bed container. This was the main concept of the design having these modular containers able to be built and furnished off site and be sent to the site via train or truck to be assembled together on site. I wanted to limit the constraints on this project to make it more flexible to those who may be in need of a housing solution like this.

The project was designed in Autodesk Revit 2023 software and rendered in a program called Twinmotion. All the geometry was built in the Revit software and Imported over into Twinmotion for replacement of textures, lighting and furnishing. Twimotion is a Free software on Epic Games that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in easy photoreal renderings. It is a great tool that a recommend everyone check out as for non commercial use is completely free with all its features.

• 8x Shipping Containers(4'x20'x9' 6")
• Front Stone Façade
• Wooden paneling façade
• 80x 3"x3"x18' Wooden Posts
• 2"x4" for Decks
• Carpet, Tile, Hardwood flooring, etc.
• x6 Exterior doors
• x8 Interior doors
• x8 Closet Doors
• Furnishings
• x6 Main windows
• x2 Bath windows
• x4 Window-Double-Hung 24"x42"
• Tools to cut regular shipping containers to desired shape

These sketches show the early assembly of ideas and concepts.

• Site- This shows the basic layout of the site that I choose and some potential landscaping options
• Floor plan- This shows basic assembly of four containers to make 1 unit

The building has a rough footprint of 50' by 30'. The site here is given to show off the building and its features but with the compact nature of this design and simple geometry it is very easy to put this building anywhere needed weather that be in thin unusable city lots or grouped together to create communities of these homes. The site can be as complex or not complex as its needs to be to make the building even more adaptable to any purpose.

Most sites should have some sort of parking like shown above. This one building would service two families so there does not need to be much. A car is almost a necessity in America today so it is necessary to allow a space for these families be able to have that even if at first they do not own a car at first, they will have that option to work towards one and keep it close once they acquire one.

The lights are there for more than just visibility, I can across a study not too long ago that discussed the percentage of crime in well lit areas vs poorly lit areas. It found that in general crime occurred in much less in places after lights were installed and better let seemed vanish rather than move to another place on the city. As a designer it feels impowering to be able combat a problem such as crime with purely design and to be able to incorporate safety into the design of an affordable housing solution.

On the far left you can see what I would consider a typical building that would come to mind if one were to imagine an apartment building. This is hear to show the contrast between what would be excepted versus what my design would bring. With a green oriented design it would make this form of affordable housing more appealing to neighborhoods which generally shun out affordable housing in part due to how it would change the look of the neighborhood. The decks are to give the feel of more space without adding more containers and house if that makes sense. People are encouraged by this design to choose to go into the general area to do activities or work in green spaces. This design choose is to promote passive and healthy habits for physical and mental health.

The first image can be seen as an unchanged container no modifications have been made and is what would be used at the base material for the housing. The doors are removed from all of the containers as generally these are where they would be connected together at. The corner edges of the container are left untouched to maintain the structural integrity of the containers so they may be used as the structural component for the housing. Holes would be cut in container where there are windows and connections into other containers.

Image 2 & 3- This would be the kids bed container. Holes for windows are cut on the right and front sides of the container with the connection into the kitchen.

Image 4- This is the kitchen container. Holes are cut into the sides where the bedrooms attach and a whole is cut into the back where a back door would be.

Image 5- This is the living room container. A front window is cut into the front and the sides are cut out to allow for two exterior doors.

*Both the kitchen and living room container have a long side completely cut out to combine them into one room.

Image 6- This is the master bed container. It has a hole for a window on the front side and a cut in the wall on the back side for connection to the kitchen.

The idea is too have the containers prepared, furnished, and have finished insides in the factory in then be shipped to the site. I believe this will help to keep cost low as the bulk of the house can be assembled in a factory setting and assembly lines can be created. How ever this does not mean that all units will be the same and bland another thing in todays world it seem almost every one has a phone and access to the internet even if they are struggling with keeping a house or trying to get one. The company assembling the container can receive an order online and multiple different template options to allow the user to have some level of customization while keeping assembly easy.

This option would also allow for differing tiers of home options allowing a person to get only what they need removing unnecessary costs.

Once assembled the almost finished product will be shipped to the site with the other parts of the home where they will by a team of builders.

Once the containers arrive on site the team on site will begin construction of the house. Containers will be positioned and secured to the foundation. Once containers are together work on the finishing touches will begin. The wood panel façade on the front will begin to be constructed along with the rest of the exterior walls.

Marked in blue is a 6in beam system that the containers sit on top of. When construction starts electrical and ducting or anything else can run trough holes cut into these beams to connect the different systems of the house.

Builders will also complete construction of the three decks once the exterior walls are up and secured.

The main goal of the container is to act as the structural part of the walls of the house that are supported with 3"x3" wooden posts.

The first image is a section view into the middle of the house, on the top unit you can see some of the posts on the back wall as I did not furnish and occupy the top unit in this example.

To keep units affordable I wanted to use expensive materials and was intentional about the number of different materials used. I used a wooden panel façade as the exterior wall with a slight accent on a steel wood look alike with a black non reflective metal surrounding the sides.

I went with a two bed two bath design to incorporate some privacy and comfort into the design, it would get annoying I imagine people to move to one side of the house many times a day just to use the bathroom considering the size. The intention is to get the family to congregate in the outdoor areas or the living room/kitchen where there is a breakfast table, kitchen table and a couch. Interior furniture is for example, different units may have different furnishing options.

Another option with this design is to create living communities of these affordable houses where these people will have people similar to them close by and be able to support one another. These communities can have support services for the residents on site to help them with any issues they might be having or just offer some support in tough times. Communities may also be a more viable option as another reason affordable housing fails in neighborhoods is some people believe that the people that need this type of housing can be dangerous and bad for the neighborhood. I'm not here to agree or disagree with those peoples thoughts but rather to try and create a solution to them. By creating communities of these houses it could make people in the neighborhoods happy and provide a support network for the residents that would reside in these houses.

In conclusion I wanted to create a design to try create a realistic approach to an affordable housing solution that is affordable, modular, and adaptable. This design accomplishes with its unique approach to assembly of different parts of the house, complex design, and considerations into affordable housing pros and cons. This design is meant to provide a safe and comfortable option for its residence so that one day they may be able to rise above it.

If you have questions I will do my best to respond thanks.