Musician's Co-Op

Aggregate Housing

SITE: Kent, OH

YEAR: Undergrad Sophomore - 2015, Semester 1

UNIVERSITY: Kent State University

DURATION OF PROJECT: 4 months

The aggregate housing project is designed to promote community among the residents, Kent State’s campus, and the families that live in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Kent, Ohio has a distinct location where it turns from a college area to family neighborhoods. The site of this aggregate housing project is located at the edge of downtown Kent which is the point where traditional suburban neighborhoods start appearing. One of Kent’s goals is to attract the local families and college students to come and spend time in the downtown area. The housing project helps achieve this goal by becoming a cornerstone building that will promote community among everyone.

Figure 1: Site of the design proposal in downtown Kent, Ohio

Aggregate Housing Single Unit

1. Grid System

2. Wall shifts at grid points

3. Solid continuous piece, creates glazing and balcony

The space was divided into three sections horizontally to create a grid across my unit. The two main walls that create this grid extend out of the interior on the southern end of the building to add emphasis to them. Programs of the house started to form around these two main walls. The first floor programs are all public while the second floor are private. Creating this grid system helped produce a very interesting embedded balcony on the second floor on the west side. This balcony is a very unique part of this design because occupants can look outside and also look through a window down into the first floor living space. Also a patio on the south side was created between the two grid walls on the first floor that is surround by mostly glass for occupants to look and feel like that is an interior space, when in reality it is exterior.

The exterior wall on the south side has one main piece that flows all the way across the south and west facade. The exterior wall shifts when it hits the extruding grid walls. This main piece creates a dynamic and contrasting aspect to the main grid system which is very strict. This flowing element also helps emphasis the two main walls in my design.

Aggregate Housing Complex

My main focus for the design of my apartment complex is to create a sense of community with the residents of the building along with the people and atmosphere that surrounds it. The way this building achieves a sense of belonging and community is by how the apartment complex interacts with the ground floor. Since there is a grade change, the corner of the building on Main Street is at ground level. Visitors can walk up this path to a balcony or go down into a courtyard. All of this is connected to my apartment complex.

1. Housing on each side, circulation in middle

4. Ciculation

2. Facade wraps itself around the units

5. Outdoor areas and public ground floor created

3. Floor plates of units

6. Solid piece wraps around units, apertures created

Floor Plans

The program includes the ground floor retail and courtyard space, 12 apartment units, and a rooftop terrace.

Ground Floor

1

2

Ground Floor

1st Floor of Units

2nd Floor of Units

The facade is designed based on the single unit. The solid piece that was designed on just two sides of the unit now wraps around the entire building. The facade of each unit is connected by a piece that goes across the circulation bay. The voids that are created by this piece create views and outdoor spaces for the residents. This dynamic, wrapping facade that connects around the whole building helps reiterate my concept of community within the town of Kent.

Figure 2: Traverse Section

Figure 4: Longitudinal Section

Figure 3: Traverse Elevation

Figure 5: Longitudinal Elevation