SPRING 2016

GRADUATE STUDIO, NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

PROF. ROBIN ABRAMS

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In London, the average rent in 2016  for a one bedroom (avg. 500 s.f.) flat is £1,211 ($1,769). For a two bedroom flat (avg. 753 s.f.), £1,605 ($2,344) (Source: The Guardian). The average rent across the city of London is £2,945 ($4,302) (Source: CBRE). The astronomical cost of housing has forced many of those apart of London's creative and working classes out of the city, threatening the creative vibrancy of the city as well as disrupting many parts of the city's service industries.

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House London is a proposal for an affordable housing solution for London's Princes Ward, located on the east side of the Thames River and north of the city's growing Vauxhall district. Princes Ward is one of the few remaining wards within the city with a significant number of council housing projects, home to many of the city's working and immigrant classes. An elevated commuter rail runs north and west through the ward, dividing the luxury development along the Thames to the west and affordable housing on the west side of the ward.

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The project imagined an affordable housing solution that made use of air rights above the elevated commuter rail. Arches at the base of the rail, currently used for storage by the rail line, were reprogrammed and infilled with restaurants and retail. A site built structural system provided "shelves" for prefabricated modular units that could be shipped to the site via the rail line. Services for these insertable units ran up through services cores that plugged into the rail arches. Depending on the needs of residents, units could be exchanged for smaller or larger units to accommodate individuals or families. Larger community spaces were to be constructed based on surrounding contextual site features.