Housing Discoveries with Fellows

Last week week was one of exploration and discovery of housing practices through group discussions and feedback mechanisms in the Rurban Design Workshop.

As an architect, one such mechanism I developed is a housing survey geared towards understanding the current state of density and spatial arrangements of Anam homes.  The preliminary survey (below) asks the Fellows to sketch a plan (top view) of their home.  From my first trials, I quickly learned that this was easier said than done, as spatial thinking can be challenging if you are not trained in it.

Nonetheless, from a rough sketch and a short discussion with one Fellow, we were able to acquire the number of sleeping rooms in a house, the number of households (different families) per house, and the number of people per room. It was an interesting exercise in understanding not only the nature of the family size but also the important social role of homeownership as a safety net for extended family members. As we move forward to survey a larger sample size, the acquisition of floor areas will also help to structure and inform decisions about the development strategy for affordable and incremental housing in the New City.

Post by: Quardean Lewis-Allen

Example Housing Survey