The built environment – and housing in particular – is inextricably linked to mental health, physical health, child learning outcomes, and social mobility. Affordable housing, however, has long been approached with an emphasis on cost and efficiency; questions of what makes a healthy neighborhood fall victim to the financial chopping block. Working in a group of eleven, the designers of Meander sought to break free from the strictures of anonymous multifamily housing blocks. In asking questions about how variety, social cohesion, outdoor space, and public services engender community health, Meander posited that heterogeneity is the key to creating social housing. Composed of four new, distinct definitions of “the block” radiating from the central existing towers of Guy B. Love, Meander combined a variety of formal and programmatic approaches to create a diverse, healthy community.
The four distinct "blocks" of Meander are united by a rambling loop of pathways, fringe parks, and promenades that encourage circulation and chance encounters among building neighbors, site residents, and community members.
Borrowing from the Social Determinants of Health matrix, Meander chooses to focus on green spaces, housing options, and social cohesion to create a healthy neighborhood.
Meander leverages a mixture of rent structures from market rate down to deeply subsidized to achieve an economically sustainable project while minimizing outside investment.
Design with a studio partner, block 03 employs smaller units of 4-5 dwellings with ground-level community services. The semi-irregular placement, mixed use, and transecting footpaths create a miniature neighborhood within the larger development.
By utilizing two different, relatively low building heights, block 03 provides a gentle transition between the single family homes of the surrounding neighborhood and the hulking Guy B. Love Towers.
Footpaths and mini-parks interspersed between separate units create a more navigable and social housing environment.
To offset the height limitations of Type V construction with a single exit stair, each unit in block 03 features a mezzanine level to create more space for a bed and bath.
The ground floor of the smaller unit typology is dedicated to childcare services, with a large indoor/outdoor play area surrounded by supervision/storage benches.
The upper levels of the smaller unit typology feature two one-bedroom dwellings and one larger, market-rate two-bedroom dwelling.
The mezzanine levels of each dwelling are large enough to accommodate a bedroom and bathroom without increasing the base footprint of the dwelling.
