MIXED-hoUSE
MIXED-hoUSE is a new model of community-engaged, cooperative, multi-generational, mixed-use, infill housing.
MIXED-hoUSE utilizes vacant lots across the Bay Area, addressing an urgent need for medium-scale, affordable-by-design, infill housing. MIXED-hoUSE is a highly efficient, 4-6 unit housing development, minimizing construction costs and waste, while maximizing affordability, social cohesion and cultural sustainability for both residents and community members. We conceive of the project as a prototype of a new form of communal housing, integrating common space and civic engagement at every level. We imagine multiple locations of these developments across the Bay Area, forming a vital network of hubs for gathering, sharing, healing and celebration.
The benefits of MIXED-hoUSE are deep and varied, founded in a holistic approach to community exchange and resilience:
Economic
Dense, multi-unit housing increases material efficiency and saves on cost of construction.
Cooperative living provides opportunities for shared expenses and common, public-facing space for income generating cottage industries.
Social
Proximity to fellow residents encourages interaction, as well as systems of care for families and elders.
Mixed-use programming activates neighborhood networks, increasing social cohesion and reciprocal support for residents and community.
Cultural
Programming facilitates the sharing of stories in a variety of mediums and disciplines. Spaces of reflection, expression, conversation, collaboration and celebration provide a sense of shared history and vision.
Projects form an integral part of a larger, distributed network of cultural hubs within both recognized and naturally occurring districts, reinforcing existing connections and frameworks for belonging.
Environmental
Consolidated building systems and full-building electrification minimizes carbon footprint.
Multiple integrated open spaces provide residents a connection to nature and opportunity for food production, supporting physical and mental health.
Community Commons
Semi-public space is open to the street, providing programming for residents and neighbors throughout the morning, day and night. The space provides a platform for cultural production, community participation and exchange through gatherings and cottage industries, providing income for residents and strengthening bonds with the neighborhood.
Resident Commons
Semi-private common spaces are located throughout the property, including roof decks and gardens for residents to relax and socialize. An interior common room adjacent to the rear yard provides conditioned space for meetings, meals and play, increasing connection and opportunities for mutual aid and care.
Process
MIXED-hoUSE utilizes recent national and state legislation intended to increase density in formerly single-family lots, allowing a more expansive and accessible sense of how we live in and structure community. MIXED-hoUSE takes advantage of relaxed zoning standards to not only increase the number of units on a given parcel, but also to integrate mixed-use programming at the scale of infill housing - an approach that is both novel and traditional, re-establishing a model of communal living that has been largely legislated out of existence. Recent legislation also streamlines permitting review, which reduces time and carrying costs, allowing savings to be passed on to residents.
People
MIXED-hoUSE is for present and future Bay Area families. We are focused on both lowering the barrier to entry and alleviating economic stress for existing residents due to the high cost of housing in the Bay Area. We are focused on working families that have lived in and contributed to the rich history the Bay Area for generations but are now facing housing instability and displacement. Conceived as a cooperative, multi-generational condo development, MIXED-hoUSE provides affordable housing for our most endangered community members, while strengthening the social bonds that have and will continue to sustain the Bay Area’s rich cultural history.
For our younger generation, who are now faced with the prospect of having to leave the cities they have called home, MIXED-hoUSE offers an affordable starter home, establishing opportunities to deepen roots in the community and build generational wealth. And for the elders of our community who sustain the lineage of culture-keepers in the Bay Area, MIXED-hoUSE provides an economically stable existence, while reinforcing mutually beneficial networks of care that provide support and sustenance.
Pro Forma
MIXED-hoUSE is designed to streamline all aspects of the design and development, including permitting, programming and construction, in order to deliver the most affordable unit cost possible. Resulting unit costs are significantly below the median cost of $1M for equivalent condos in the Bay Area. Land and construction costs are informed by our extensive research and experience with the design and construction of complex residential projects. Profit and Return on Cost are balanced to zero, in contrast to speculative development driving up the cost of housing across the Bay Area.