Benjamin Griffin

Enfield, CT USA

The problem with low income housing today, is that everything is too individualized. In an apartment building the occupant goes up to his/her floor and goes directly to their room. The occupant has little contact with other residents. The New Jersey Transit seating is much like a low income housing complex today. Everyone gets into a seat and looks straight ahead making no eye contact our conversation with those around.

My proposed housing complex takes the idea of so called “community” today, and flips it into a totally new and fun experience. Similar to the New York City Subway seating; people are facing each other. This not only provides interaction, but also safety. No violence will occur when there are people around to witness.

The residents have easy accessibility to the other residents. There is a communal area on the top of the units where all occupants can gather. It also provides natural cooling/heating.

Rice paper between two sheets of glass, divides the two houses in the living room. A silhouette of the neighbor brings a presence that enhances the idea of humans as a group.

A shipping crate has such a distinct texture and characteristic in it of itself, that painting or covering it would be destroying its beauty and history. This site is historic, and to preserve that feeling, I kept the shipping containers in their historic state.