FRAMED

MODULAR COTTAGE HOUSING / OTHELLO NEIGHBORHOOD / SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

This cottage-style housing project explores how modular untis can adapt to the user’s needs. The scheme looks to be flexible to demographics of a wide range, such as accessibility, single-occupancy, live-work opportunities, and larger family housing. The project attempts to accomplish this flexibility by providing 7 module types, each containing different programs, with options to adapt interior and exterior frames to needs of the user. Clustering these modules in different configurations creates different housing types, with exterior frames to inform shared and private courtyard spaces. 

Outdoor frames are fixed with options to adapt to privacy needs or daylighting needs through the seasons with screens or walls, or can incorporate raised planters and seating. These changable frames are also located on the interior and act as structural elements that allow for connections between module types. 

The units are clad in corten steel panels to ground itself into the landscape. The landscaping materials are a balance of paving at the pathway, with wood decking and softscape at courtyards. Interiors maintain a minimal palette of wooden planks and the blackened steel frames to provide a clear contrast in telling the story of the frame.

Instructors: Elizabeth Golden + Rick Mohler