Smart Communities

Co-living, Co-working in Berlin

This morning we met Dr. Michael LaFond at his office, id22: the Institute for Creative Sustainability   on the south side of the Spree River.

As he illustrated the work of sustainability, he introduced us the idea of "co-living, co-working" in the Spreefeld Cooperative as well as another relevant slogan "do it yourself, do it together." In a city like Berlin, these ideas seem so natural and reasonable due to its strong cultural base, a large creative population, and a great amount of independent singles. Under co-living projects, residents live and work together, sharing the working spaces as well as the infrastructures. They not only share the costs, but also share their ideas.

The Spreefeld project is an example of how cooperative housing can promote a more sustainable way of living. The government sold this land to the Spreefeld Cooperative for a model mixed-use, mixed-income project, aiming to attract people interested in living and working together.

The ground floors are public, available for many different activities. The second floors are offices and upper floors are living units. Meanwhile, the open ground spaces are used as the cooperative land, which are under management of a non-profit organization named Spree Anchor to make sure the uses are properly laid out.

Many creative ideas infuse the cooperative. There are various public places such as a dancing room, a carpenter workshop, a boat house refurnished from a former police boat station, and a public kitchen. These "option spaces" allow people to find opportunities for their careers or to improve their living quality. They keep installing new sustainable infrastructures such as a "co-generating system" to generate heat from the ice-melting process and green roofs to reduce on- site stormwater runoff; they plant foods in the community gardens and reserve green roofs for parties. They use "shared-space streets" to incorporate pedestrians, bikes and cars on the same lane and have no parking lots to restraint the car uses; They use long balconies surrounding different living units to tie people closely with a shared public space. "The project should never be finished," LaFond said, showing their passion and satisfaction on this model project.

After a tour of the Spreefeld project, Dr. LaFond then took us to some other sites, each with special achievements in applying the "co-working, co-housing" idea.

 We saw a tepee community on a public riverbank offering tepees as an affordable housing option. People who want to move in only need to obey the rule of the community to behave properly. The tepees looked neat, yet I was a little concerned about the shower and toilet conditions and also surprised by its existence in such an important area. It is unimaginable in today's China to designate a public riverbank in city center for housing.

We then visited an area named YAAM where members of the immigrant community have built a recreational park from waste materials and scrap cars, an alternative housing project which converted a former hotel into a concert building, a building renovation project where residents are involved in design and renewal of the building, an shared work complex where individuals can rent a desk for from one day to a year to conduct their own businesses, and different kinds of community gardens. The rebuilt dead strip parks inspired me so much on the utilization of historic traces and the effective memory recalling designs.

In our last site, the Prinzessinnegarten, we saw a highly organized system or urban gardening in the Kreuzberg district. People collect rainwater for irrigating; they plant flowers and foods and sell the seeds; they raise bees with tree hives to pollinate the flowers; they also run bars and restaurants to accommodate the visitors. It is a very lively and peaceful place that is a great model for what can happen with little cost and lots of work.

The first day in Berlin to me was a wonderful start to the whole program. Every place seems to be growing naturally and spontaneous and also in a cleverly organized way. People here are so good at planting ideas and make changes, and also in a good cooperating with the city government and others. I wish I could digest all the ideas I learned today, and see where they could be most properly applied in my future work.

Guest Blogger: Summer Xiang

 

    

 

Seeing Berlin After 18 Years

“Remember with the ‘ie’ and the ‘ei’ in German, you pronounce the second letter, so ‘bier’ sounds like ‘beer’,” my father repeated two hours before I left for the airport. I nodded along, remembering reading this line in the little information packet he typed up for my trip. It has been eighteen years since he had been in Germany, and he still remember everything about the language. It was a language he spoke infrequently, and only in short remarks here and there. But I always loved hearing its sound, full and tumbling out of his mouth. His eyebrows always rose when he spoke and I could tell how much he missed the country. Like him, I hadn’t been back in 18 years, but my ties with Germany were weak and ill remembered. To me, Germany was my fun fact during ice-breaker challenges, the screams I yelled during the World Cup when the team took home the victory, or the lederhosen that hung in the back of my closet from my 2^nd birthday. At 21, I was finally returning to the country in which I had been born. It was finally time for me to return on my own adventure.

After nearly 17 hours of travel, Emma and I emerge from the U-Bahn station, exhausted yet smiling. We have finally made it Berlin. In just 20 minutes we have experienced the bus and metro systems and gotten our first look at the city’s super-efficient transportation system. As we walk to our hotel, the streets are quiet. There is a sense of calm and peace that I have never before experienced in a city. Just six months prior, I had been shuffling down the streets of New York City, crammed between humans and vehicles and concrete and glass. Quiet is not a word for New York, nor is peaceful. But here, cars are few and far between, and although it is 12:30 on a Saturday, there are only a few others mingling about on the sidewalks.

Cut to 2:30 PM, and my friend Aren is leading those of us who arrived a day early through the city of Berlin. We walk like zombies, overwhelmed with excitement, fatigue, and hunger; not sure whether we should sit down or just stay standing, afraid we’ll doze and miss something new. We are on our way to a festival, which was a suggestion from Aren’s Berlin-savvy sister. We figure we’re up for anything that will keep us awake. The metro there is pleasant and easy. I keep thinking it feels simple and colorful and easy, its insides rounded and smooth. There are teenagers on the seats next to us wearing platform converses and black, which is a stark difference from UVA. Everyone is wearing black, and I am realizing it is a city with some grit. In a lot of ways, Berlin seems like a city of opposites: clean and gritty, loud and quiet at the same time.

The festival is loud, and much different from our experience on the street. We spot a baby slumped in his seat, sound asleep on the back of a bicycle. Emma mentions it’s how she feels right now. Aren tells us that the city has historically had trouble keeping up its population and offers monthly monetary incentives for having children, which explains the seemingly disproportionate amount of young families milling about. There is delicious-looking food everywhere, but we’re too tired to decide what to eat. We spend most of our energy just taking everything in, and it’s fun to watch the people walking past us, listening to the way they speak. Chris orders sweet potato fries and repeats the word ‘sweet potato’ over and over in German.

After a short dinner at a small Italian restaurant near our hotel, Emma, Aren and I are exploring the blocks surrounding our hotel. We end up standing on the edge of a field of hundreds of concrete monuments. Each is a different height, and the ground shifts beneath my feet as we walk among them. Aren explains that this is the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe. It is unlike any memorial I’ve ever seen. It is not a tall statue of a man on a horse or a curved black granite wall. There are no words written anywhere. Its purpose isn’t explicitly stated, at least not to my knowledge in that moment. Its meaning is only revealed when I walk through it alone, hand tracing along each block, grabbing corners and turning left and right. It is never ending and overwhelming. It feels heavy and constricting, yet there are children running through the maze. A boyfriend jumps from behind one of the taller block, scaring his girlfriend, and her scream echoes. Like Berlin, the center feels the most important. It feels clean and gritty at the same time; terrifying and restricting yet open to the sky. Dozens of paths reach out; its identity only revealed through the use of the senses. I slowly find my way out towards Tiergarten as my eyelids and legs grow heavy, the sun setting on my first day in Berlin. 

Guest Blogger: Cat Humphries

 

Sustainable Practices in Europe--A Birdseye View

I have the pleasure of leading a delegation of University of Virginia students around Europe to observe and take note of innovative practices in the areas of housing, energy, food systems, transportation, and water. The following is a description of the program as it was designed. Following are daily entries by the students on what they saw, who they met, how they felt, and what practices caught their interest.

SUSTAINABLE EUROPE

       An International Summer Program

Sponsored by the University of Virginia, School of Architecture, Department of Urban + Environmental Planning

 

Faculty:  Dr. Suzanne Morse Moomaw, Associate Professor, Urban + Environmental Planning,

              Director, Community Design Research Center

              Ms. Harriett Jameson, MLA/MUEP, Instructor and Program Director, Community Design

                        Research Center 

Program overview

This course contrasts trends, planning, and policies in sustainability, sustainable urban design, and sustainable urban transport in Europe and the USA. The class is designed around a sequence of three interrelated themes—urban design and form, sustainable built systems, and sustainable natural systems.

The first theme sustainable urban form begins in Berlin where we will view the city through the lens of its past and future. Dr. Michael LaFond of the Institute for Creative Sustainability will introduce the myriad of ways that the concept of sustainability is being applied through land use, housing, and shared workspace. Dr. Paola Alfaro d’Alencon of the Technical University of Berlin will illustrate how cooperative planning is helping shape post-industrial landscapes and Dr. Michael Lee of the University of Virginia will show students new and old landscape sites that use water and reclaimed land in innovative ways ending with a contextual tour of the Tiegarten.

The second theme will take full shape in Freiburg where we will see some of the world’s leading examples of sustainable housing, transportation, and energy. We will begin with a discussion of the housing, land use, and the concept of sustainable transport with Wulf Daseking, former principle planner in Freiburg. We will focus on active transport (walking and cycling) and public transport. Throughout this theme students will work in groups to evaluate the transferability of innovative European transport policies to the USA. Tentative innovative policies and policy areas include: high-speed rail, bike sharing, car sharing, traffic calming, and innovative land-use planning systems. For each policy, planning approach, and case study in Europe we attempt to determine how and if European policies could work in America. Our final session in Freiburg will be at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Research to see the new H-car, solar panels, and learn more about the tools for reversing our impact on the climate.

The final theme sustainable natural systems will be explored in Basel, Zurich, and the village of Riva San Vitale. The primary focus is on energy, water supply, risk, and use and sustainable food systems. Why this theme in these places? On energy, Switzerland has institute the 2000-Watt Society to reduce the energy footprint. It is one of the European countries that has taken the lead in maintaining and preserving its water supply. Called the “water tower” of Europe, Switzerland has around six percent of the continent’s freshwater resources. For our study on water, we will examine the following topics related to freshwater using research and case studies from around the world: global availability; significant threats; negative human impact; allocation and regulation; distribution; and water equity. We will begin in Basel where we will see the Rhine River and begin to understand the positive impact that cross-jurisdictional cooperation can have. We will meet with researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAVAG) about international and country research on such topics as potable water, research on waste to fertilizer, and sustainable building practices. We will also have the opportunity to have a learning laboratory literally in our neighborhood—Lake Lugano. Finally, we will look at the sustainable and “slow” food movement as it is played out in the Ticino Canton.

Singapore the “Garden City”

Located in Southeast Asia, Singapore is a highly urbanized modern city-state and island country with a population of approximately 5,469,700 (2014 Department of Statistics Singapore). Singapore is rated as one of the world’s greatest cities (CNN travel) for many reasons, including unique but cheap food, greatest living politician, best health care infrastructures, invention of NeWater etc. Among all of Singapore’s attractions, the most extraordinary one is Singapore’s connection and integration of nature into the city’s dense concrete jungle and the city’s sustainable lifestyle.

The Asian Green City Index, a research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, records measures and rates the environmental performance of 22 Asian cities. According to the Asian Green City Index, Singapore is the Index leader with a well above average ranking overall. The city has a performance of above average in 6 out of the 8 categories, including energy and CO₂, transport, air quality, land use and buildings, sanitation, and environmental governance. Singapore is well above average in 2 out of the 8 categories, including water and waste. Being the 4^th richest city (among the 22 cities analyzed during the survey) with a GDP per person of $36,500, Singapore has access to abundant resources, can afford major investments in its transportation system, cutting edge water recycling plants and waste to energy facilities.

The government’s role in city planning is highly important and is key to success. Unlike other cities, the government system in Singapore isn’t split between competing levels of administration. Singapore has a highly trained civil service with a high degree of transparency (Singapore was fourth place in Transparency International’s corruption Perception Index). This unique government system along with the capacity to approach their cities as single entities improves the ability for Singapore and government officials to address environmental issues. Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew implemented the vision of Singapore as a garden city in 1968. In 1992, the Singapore Green Plan was first issued as Singapore’s first formal environmental blueprint in order to ensure that Singapore achieves sustainable economic development through sound environmental management. In 1999, review of first green plan took place and new ideas were formulated and integrated in to Singapore Green Plan 2012 that was launched in August 2002. Many goals within the plan have already been met but new international and domestic changes require constant update to current plan and goals. In 2008, the government established Singapore’s Center for Livable Cities where expertise from the public and private sectors come together and produces events, research and reports on sustainable urban development and environmental management.

With few freshwater sources and tension with neighbor Malaysia, Singapore is pushed to be independent and sufficient when it comes to water supply. Currently there are several strategies that Singapore uses to increase availability of freshwater supply; the most innovative of them all is the purification of wastewater “NEWater”. Wastewater is collected and flows through two types of filtration (micro-filtration and reverse osmosis) to remove any suspended particles, salts, metals and most pathogens. After filtration, water undergoes ultraviolet light treatment to remove and kill off any remaining microbes. Currently, NEWater is used mainly by non-domestic users. The government started by pumping only small amounts of NEWater into the reservoir system that links directly to drinking supply. Overtime, residents are became more acceptance to NEWater allowing NEWater to supply 30% of drinking consumption in Singapore in 2010.

Green buildings and land use policies are highlights in Singapore. The city has well-established policies to contain urban sprawl and protect green spaces from negative consequences caused by development. Currently, Singapore has 66 square meters of green space per person. Policies are also in place to promote eco-efficiency in new buildings, green standards for public buildings and create incentives to motivate households and businesses to save energy. By 2030, the goal is for 80% of all buildings to meet Singapore’s minimum “Green Mark Certified” energy efficiency standards. In order to achieve this, standards are mandatory for new buildings and the city provide cash incentive scheme to encourage existing buildings to upgrade and adopt the new standards. By 2020, the government also aims to increase park space from 3,300 hectares to 4,200 hectares while adding more ecolinks i.e. eco-corridors between parks to allow wildlife to move freely from one park to the other. 

In 2007, Singapore had 100km of eco connections and the government aims to raise this figure to 360km by 2020. In 2009, the Singapore Green Building Council was officially launched on October 28^th in order to advocate green building design, practices and technologies and drive environmental sustainability in the building and construction industry (SGBC). Unique green designs can be observed all around Singapore, a few examples are Fusionopolis, 313@somerset, hotel Parkroyal and Nanyang Technological University. 

Overall, Singapore is outstanding and successful at containing sprawl and progressing towards sustainability. New research and new policies need to be implemented to keep up with globalization and climate change.

Guest Contributor: Linda Chen

References

Department of Statistics Singapore - <Population Trends 2014> - http://www.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publications/publications_and_papers/population_and_population_structure/population2014.pdf

 

CNN International <12 reasons why Singapore is the greenest city on Earth> - http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/none/12-reasons-why-singapore-greenest-city-914640

 

CNN <50 reasons why Singapore is No.1> - http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/none/worlds-greatest-city-50-reasons-why-singapore-no-1-399897

 

Asian Green City Index <Assessing the environmental performance of Asia’s major cities> - http://www.thecrystal.org/assets/download/Asian-Green-City-Index.pdf

 

Singapore Green Plan - <Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources> http://www.uncsd2012.org/content/documents/The%20Singapore%20Green%20Plan%202012.pdf

 

Singapore Green Building Council - http://www.sgbc.sg/about-us/about-sgbc/introduction/

 

Fusionopolis - http://inhabitat.com/fusionopolis-singapore’s-new-green-skyscraper/

 

Singapore takes the lead in green building in Asia - http://e360.yale.edu/feature/singapore_takes_the_lead_in_green_building_in_asia/2720/

 

Nanyang Technological University - http://greensource.construction.com/projects/2009/05_Nanyang-Technological-University.asp

 

 

 

Figure 1 Fusionopolis

100km of eco connections and the government aims to raise this figure to 360 km by 2020. In 2009, the Singapore Green Building Council was officially launched on October 28^th in order to advocate green building design, practices and technologies and drive environmental sustainability in the building and construction industry (SGBC). Unique green designs can be observed all around Singapore, a few examples are Fusionopolis, 313@somerset, hotel Parkroyal and Nanyang Technological University. 

            Overall, Singapore is outstanding and successful at containing sprawl and progressing towards sustainability. New research and new policies need to be implemented to keep up with globalization and climate change.

 

References

Department of Statistics Singapore - <Population Trends 2014> - http://www.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publications/publications_and_papers/population_and_population_structure/population2014.pdf

 

CNN International <12 reasons why Singapore is the greenest city on Earth> - http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/none/12-reasons-why-singapore-greenest-city-914640

 

CNN <50 reasons why Singapore is No.1> - http://travel.cnn.com/singapore/none/worlds-greatest-city-50-reasons-why-singapore-no-1-399897

 

Asian Green City Index <Assessing the environmental performance of Asia’s major cities> - http://www.thecrystal.org/assets/download/Asian-Green-City-Index.pdf

 

Singapore Green Plan - <Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources> http://www.uncsd2012.org/content/documents/The%20Singapore%20Green%20Plan%202012.pdf

 

Singapore Green Building Council - http://www.sgbc.sg/about-us/about-sgbc/introduction/

 

Fusionopolis - http://inhabitat.com/fusionopolis-singapore’s-new-green-skyscraper/

 

Singapore takes the lead in green building in Asia - http://e360.yale.edu/feature/singapore_takes_the_lead_in_green_building_in_asia/2720/

 

Nanyang Technological University - http://greensource.construction.com/projects/2009/05_Nanyang-Technological-University.asp

 

 

 

Universal Smart Homes

Universal smart homes rely heavily on the concept of design to be livable for people of all ages and abilities. At their basis, these homes are meant to provide a healthy indoor environment in which residents and emergency servicemen alike can easily access all of the indoor spaces. As we advance into a more modern era, several types of technologies have emerged that can improve the effectiveness of universal home design. In his book, Universal Designed “Smart” Homes: for the 21^st Century, Charles Schwab states that the purpose of a universal smart home is to “enhance Independent Living, while conserving and protecting our natural resources well into the 21^st Century and beyond”. This concept is represented through four aspects of a home: mobility, utility, efficiency, and health. Technology, when installed mindfully and cohesively with other design aspects, can maximize the success of each aspect.

 A key element of successful universal design is that the smart features are well integrated into the overall design. In terms of mobility, this means minimizing the use of wheelchair ramps, metal handrails, and high-friction flooring materials. Flooring made of non-slip, glare-free materials with high contrast edging and ‘ramp-free’ walkways with a 1:20 grade, eliminate the need for the aforementioned eyesores. In combination with practical mechanical lift systems for traveling between floors, technologies like Golden Technologies’ power chairs help improve residents’ mobility throughout their homes.

 

Technology can also improve residents’ ability to utilize all of the spaces and surfaces in their home. Strategically placed lights with rocker-type light switches make the process of entering a dark room much simpler. Sinks, shelves, closet rods, and drawers that can be adjusted from commonly specified heights to accessible heights as well as front-loaded, side-swing appliances (washing machines, ovens, etc.) contribute significantly to the universal home design goal of making homes ‘livable for people of all ages and abilities’. While advanced technologies that carry out tasks for residents are still in development, several robots exist today that can do things from cleaning the floors to mowing the lawn.

 Elderly and disabled populations have lower median incomes than the average. This means that these people have less disposable income in general, and would benefit specifically from being able to save money on their utilities. There are four channels through which homes can be made more efficient and utility costs can be cut. The first, Energy Star, is a national rating system for appliances. An Energy Star certified home can expect to save about 20% annually on utility bills. Secondly, homes can be made physically more energy efficient by installing an in-floor radiant heating system or by using organizations like LEAP to stop air leaks. The third channel, utilizes alternative forms of energy production such as solar and geothermal. Lastly, residents can save money on their utilities by taking steps to conserve water using technologies like water pedals, automatic water shut offs/sensors, faucet & shower head aerators, low-flow toilets, and point-of-use water heaters.

 Unfortunately, the most vulnerable populations are the ones who have the most trouble accessing the health care that they need in a reasonable amount of time. Technology can be used to not only provide this population with the help it needs quickly, but can also help prevent accidents in the first place. In-home telehealth and remote monitoring technologies are becoming increasingly more widely used. In the case of emergencies, in conjunction with security systems, voice-activated computer systems can be installed that are directly connected to the police, fire, and EMS. By pairing light indicators with garbage disposal, smoke detectors, and carbon monoxide detectors, accidents are less likely to occur. Additionally, new home construction should include a passive radon emissions pipe as well as materials, like paints, sealants, and adhesives, with low VOCs.

While smart home designs are hugely beneficial, technologies, from movable shelves to a robotic vacuum cleaner, are making the goal of a livable home for people of all ages and abilities more attainable. Though costly, technology is constantly improving and becoming more cost effective. By aiding a population’s ability to age-in-place and live independently with disabilities, families can save several thousand dollars on live-in nurses, nursing homes, and hospital visits. These technologies result in increased individual freedoms, which make the up-front costs worth the long term investment

Guest Contributor: Tara Osborne

Utilizing Modular Prefabrication to Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis

The United States faces a formidable national housing crisis. Since the Great Recession beginning in 2008, more and more people are moving away from home ownership and into rental economies. This increased demand, coupled with stagnant middle and lower class wages, has led to an immense shortage of affordable housing units for those households. The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s “Out of Reach 2014” publication claims that “for every 100 extremely low income renter households, there are just 31 affordable and available units.” This number is staggering. It places an immense importance on the development of new affordable housing units over the next fifty years, especially in large cities like New York and San Francisco, where the problem is even worse. In attempting to meet this massive need for affordable housing, new strategies will need to be explored, because the “business as usual” model is clearly broken.

One possible solution to this crisis could lie in the utilization of prefabricated, modular living units. Structures utilizing such a design were first proposed during the Japan-led Metabolist movement of the 1960s. Notable projects such as the Nakagin Capsule Tower aggregated large numbers of small inhabitable pods around a central vertical core containing utilities, amenities, and means of circulation. While this Metabolist architecture may seem a bit too out there for most Americans’ tastes, the U.S.  did see the proliferation of prefabricated architecture in the last half of the twentieth century: the mobile “trailer” home. A long time choice for low-income rural households, the traditional mobile home manages to stay so affordable by utilizing off site prefabrication that takes advantage of economies of scale. While it seems unlikely that any designer could ever support a push for more of these mobile homes, their success does give hope to new ideas of prefabricated housing.

 A 2014 report by McKinsey & Company titled “Tackling the world’s affordable housing challenge” points to reducing construction and development costs as one of four main strategies crucial to solving this issue. Off site prefabrication has been proven to be much cheaper than conventional construction in many scenarios, especially in urban environments. A second of their points lies in improved maintenance and operations for housing. By utilizing a modular design, repairs become easy. All units are identical, and one could even go so far as to completely replace an entire unit in the event of a kitchen fire or similar event. Beyond the cost and time saving benefits of offsite prefabrication, utilizing a modular design allows for structures to adapt to changing needs and quickly adapt if demand rises suddenly. A recent project by Garrison Architects in partnership with the New York City Office of Emergency Management developed prefab housing pods that could be utilized for emergency housing in the event of another Hurricane Sandy scale disaster. Finally, the establishment of large housing factories has the potential to revitalize a struggling population in many large coastal cities. With large spending cuts in recent years, the U.S. Navy has dramatically cut back on its shipbuilding operations. These effects have been felt most strongly in the working class families whose members were employed at shipyards. While not identical, fabricating building units does share many similarities with shipbuilding, in both the techniques used and the necessity for large, centralized construction facilities. Prefab building construction could potentially create thousands of new jobs for those whose skillsets or tendencies don’t match well with other fields like conventional construction.

Many are already seeing the benefits of these types of structures, with several under construction in New York City. Adopting this new housing model will be neither quick nor easy, but could yield great results. The utilization of modular, prefab housing has the potential to drastically change the American housing market, potentially solving many of the issues of the current affordable housing crisis. 

Guest Contributor: Dillon Harding

Approximately 1 in 4 of the 2.4 million Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse or both. (http://projects.perkinswill.com/files/PosttraumaticUnderstanding_2014.pdf)  This means that within the group of most recent veterans 600,000 have been diagnosed with PTSD and/or substance abuse.  While it is certainly important that resources exist for veterans health and quality of living, the impact of these programs is inhibited when the physical space ignores the implications of military training and experience.  Those working with veterans have heard of veterans avoiding specific buildings “even if it meant skipping important appointments, because they found the spaces unnerving.” (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-07-05/news/ct-met-ptsd-design-20130705_1_ptsd-clinic-post-traumatic-stress-disorder) 

 

 These spaces should be humanizing.  Privacy and respect should be embodied throughout spaces intended for veteran use whether it be designing for the scale of the body, providing individual bathrooms or using materials that are familiar rather than cold and foreign.  War is incredibly dehumanizing, making any opportunity to eliminate intimidating or uncomfortable spaces essential.  These spaces should also give as sense of empowerment whenever able which can easily manifest in flexible spaces.  The ability to make small decisions in a space can have a much larger impact on sense of control.  By being able to open a window, move a chair or adjust lighting veterans are able to reduce anxiety and increase their sense of authority over their lives.

 

 Other small moves in design can decrease unnecessary stress and triggers by reducing the cognitive load of occupying space. (http://blog.perkinswill.com/posttraumatic-understanding/)  A door that is unclear in the direction it swings or a handle that is difficult to use can be a small source of stress that inhibits comfort and is a negative distraction from the pursuit of health.  Insulation and sound-reducing windows can also play a strong role in sound reduction from busy streets that can be triggers for those with PTSD.  Other easy to overlook elements such as natural light, allowing pets in live-in programs, providing smoking space and proximity to nature have a huge impact on stress reduction. 

 

 

 

The urban battlefield and military training present the most radical implications in the articulation of space designed for veterans.  One part avoiding obvious triggers, one part attention to lines of sight and visibility, the shared habits and experiences of those with military experience points towards training handbooks as a design resource.  The most recent war veterans are more likely to experience a traumatic or particularly stressful event in a city, and because of this an environment that shares a sensory element with the streets of Baghdad for example (see image above) is likely to be a trigger for veterans using or moving through the space.  In military training you learn the importance of establishing a dominant position with a given space, habits which can inform a veteran’s method of encountering space.  This includes 1) facing towards openings in space 2) back towards secured area such as a corner with no windows 3) minimizing “fields of fire” or areas where you are exposed or gunfire could originate 4) high vantage point to reduce threat from above. (http://projects.perkinswill.com/files/PosttraumaticUnderstanding_2014.pdf )  

 

 

 

Designers should stride to provide privacy and security while retaining opportunities for swift exit and eliminating the feeling of being trapped. 

 

Many of these design moves are inexpensive and a matter of thoughtfulness in design, material choice and sourcing.  Spatial decisions informed by stress reduction and military experience have a long-term impact on the effectiveness of programs and resources that target the health and well-being of veterans. 

 

 

 

Tiny Homes, Big Potential for Alleviating Homelessness

One of many barriers to ending homelessness in the United States is a lack of affordable housing options. A handful of progressive communities around the country are solving this problem by changing the parameters of a typical house—by several hundred square feet. “Tiny home villages” are comprised of structures that are 200 square feet or less, inhabited by formerly homeless residents who share a communal space with bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry. In an apt comparison, Tim Murphynotes that a tiny home village is “a multi-roof version of the old-fashioned urban SRO (single-room occupancy) hotel” (see Home Petite Home).

The first model of this living arrangement is Dignity Village, which was established by a group of unhoused people in 2000 outside of Portland, Oregon (see Rethinking Shelter and Tiny House Communities). The group attained status as a non-profit and continues to lease two acres of property from the City of Portland at a low cost. Dignity Village houses about 60 residents in 50 self-built structures, each without electricity and plumbing. Each resident pays $25 per month for operational costs of the communal spaces, which also include a computer room, gardening beds, and a check-in desk for security.

The village is located next to a leaf-composting facility six miles away from the Portland downtown, with little proximity to residential areas, meaning that the village’s establishment did not encounter opposition from potential NIMBY naysayers. Dignity residents who wish to commute to the city for services and jobs must spend roughly 45 minutes on a public bus or bicycle, or arrange car-sharing with one of the few automobile owners. In addition to payment of the operating costs, residents must abide by several rules (including no consumption of alcohol or drugs on the premises) and engage in ten hours of service to the community per week, and initial acceptance into the community is governed by a one-month trial period.

Dignity Village is overseen by a self-governing system of annually elected residents in positions such as CEO and security coordinator. However, resident Mitch Grubic believes that an external, permanent board is necessary since “you need a village where everyone looks at each other as a peer, not as rulers,” and annual rotation leads to inconsistencies in fundraising and planning (see Home Petite Home). Another challenge for Dignity is that it was intended to serve as a temporary living situation, but some residents have remained for years. As part of Portland’s extended contract with the Village in 2012, a two year time limit was imposed for residents (see Portland’s Dignity Village: Thirteen Years Later). According to a focus group from the Partnership for Strong Communities, some residents of transitional living programs view limitations as a stressful chance for their lives to fall back into housing instability (see Barriers to Ending Homelessness: From Those Experiencing It). Thus, longer-term Dignity Village Residents anxiously wait to see if the limitation will be enforced.

As organizations in other cities such as Austin, TX, Eugene, OR, and Madison, WI begin developing their own tiny house villages, several important questions must be addressed. Where is zoning flexible enough for a village? Should there be restrictions on the people allowed to live there (non-felons and non-addicts, for example) and the length of time they are allowed to stay? What sorts of services should be provided (social workers and mental health services) and what sort of governance should manage the community? Thoughtful answers to these questions will provide one aspect of the multi-faceted approach to ending homelessness in our nation. 

Guest Blogger: Sunny Soward

Tiny and Micro Houses--Guest Blog by Meredith Blake

The Art of Finding Hidden Spaces: Smaller Ways to Live

 

The idea of owning a big house has never crossed my mind. Truth is, I hate big houses. It is not just the overbearing mortgages that I detest, but how I feel in large homes. I never felt 100% comfortable in large homes and I think it is largely because there is just too much empty space. So as a young child, I always dreamt of owning a small, cozy house that provided a place of refuge, one that I could call home. My desire to own smaller house grew when I began to learn more about tiny homes that are space efficient. However, this blog post is not about tiny homes but on micro-apartments in high density areas that can potentially be an affordable housing option to the public.

Sarah Susanka’s Not So Big House emphasizes that the feeling of “Home” has almost nothing to do with size but how efficiently space is used. Space is not just limited to how big or small the apartments are but how the community uses their communal space. Therefore, I wanted to take a deeper look into micro- apartments in high density areas, such as Tokyo, Japan and see how creative design can challenge the traditional use of space so that every available space counts for something. The two examples below best highlights how challenging the traditional perspectives on space can create valuable property assets.  

Apartment 1 in Tokyo, Japan

Apartment 1 is located in the heart of Tokyo and is a 5 unit apartment (25 sqm each) that are layered on top of each other on a 48 sqm property. The primary challenge for Kumiko Inui, the architect, was to use space as efficiently as possible while giving each unit a unique design. She accomplishes this by minimizing the area for the stairs and the hallways and alternating the position of the core by moving the stairs. Although this apartment is very small compared to the average size apartments in Japan (72 sqm), the floor to ceiling windows that allows natural light and great view of the city makes up for the lack of physical space.

 

This project makes us reevaluate the value of small plots of lands within cities that are often overlooked when planning for new development. Detailed photos can be viewed here.

Maid’s Room Renovation Project in Paris, France

Designers at Kitoko Studio turned a rundown, old-fashioned “maid’s room” into an 8 sqm apartment that is  highly compact and functional. Maid rooms, as they lost their original purpose over time, transitioned into becoming attics or extra storage area. However as housing prices within cities continue to skyrocket, these neglected or forgotten spaces are becoming additional property assets.

The design can be best described as a ”Swiss Army” concept, because the apartment holds multiple tools such as sliding drawers and shelves, tables and chairs, and hidden twin size bed and storage areas. What I find impressive in this design is that even in an 8 sqm area, the apartment has a tiny kitchen with a refrigerator, sink, removable stovetop, and microwave. Behind a hidden door, there is a bathroom that contains a toilet, shower, and bathroom sink.

Detailed photos of this simple apartment can be viewed here.

 I do not think that apartments in high density areas need to be this compact, but I just wanted to give  examples of an apartment that cleverly uses unexpected, tiny space available to create a home that is charming and livable.

 Guest Blogger

Sujin Hong