Siddharth Puri
Richard Gurlitz
Adam Folta
Randy Mahlum

Chapel Hill, NC USA

The building responds to its urban context through large open urban plazas on three sides. The design allocates almost 50% of the area to these plazas. The design envisions the building itself as an economic embryo – a dense urban infill mixed use project. The retail occupies the ground floor, the office spaces the second level and the last three floors are residential.

The building lays special emphasis on public spaces. Apart from the public plaza at ground level which is envisioned for use by both the general public as well as the residents, the residential floor has another public area between the two wings of the residential block. This will be a green strip with plants, and with dimensions of 50’ X 250’ also serves as a sort of a public parks, and the layout also ensures that the kids playing in these parks are under constant adult supervision.

The building form also derives its inspiration from a wooden barge carrying containers and floating on a sea of glass.

The dwelling units are designed from 40’ containers and are double height. The design is envisioned as a loft. The unit looks at multi family in a post industrial and global world as being multi cultural. In most large metropolitan areas people are increasingly from varying ethnic and social back grounds, the designers feel that a large 40’L X 24’B X 17’H unit will provide both high living quality as well as flexibility that allows the house to morph easily as per the users needs.