O-BLONG HOUSE

Jim V-Lock Building Project
(Individual Proposal)

Date:
1st Year Core Studio
Spring 2014

Critics: 
Andrew Benner

Project was In partnership with Neighbor Works New Horizons of New Haven, an organization committed to develop and operate affordable quality housing, and HTP Ventures LLC, a private equity firm interested in mass producing micro dwelling units. 

The O-blong house aims to present a prototype for a small 300/600 square foot home that optimizes the lot through lateral segmentation. The house can expand through the addition of o-blong gable volumes, and outdoor platforms that also serves as sequential layers of the house.

House as configurable kit of parts: Module volumes and differing platforms that scale down the approach to the street.This allows the house to be adaptable to lots of various size and shapes.

Backyard to front porch; the offsetting of the volume allows the house to extend beyond its physical boundary, making it seem larger than it appears. Independent gable roofs within a single enveloping gesture grant identities for both tenant and owner when tenant space is rented out, while maintaining a cohesive character when tenant space is absorbed into the main house.