The form of this proposal was derived from the cupping of two hands.
Communauté 816 is a multigenerational collective housing complex in the French Quarter of New Orleans that seeks to challenge our conception of residency as a private idea.
The massing of the complex was informed by the meeting of two hands. Cupped together, overlapping, the hands create an embrace, create an enclosure. This overlap would be the hearth of the community. Where the private mass met its public counterpart. The hearth would be where the members of Communauté 816 would come together and dine. The upper mass would be the residences; a series of minimal apartments. They would each have a scaled back kitchenette that could allow residents to cook for themselves if desired, however it would also encourage them to cook and dine together in the communal kitchen at the hearth. The lower mass would house the communal garden. Together the residents would grow and harvest the plants they would cook with. The ideal of multigenerational collective housing is to foster a community within a complex and encourage residents to consider their home as more than just their individual unit.
The site is in the French Quarter, densely surrounded by double gallery and shotgun houses and Creole townhouses.
Communauté 816 will feature a food cooperative to service the community. Residents of Communauté are automatically made members of the cooperative. Members of the community at large are capable of becoming members as well or shopping at the cooperative as a non-member. Louisiana has the second highest rate of food insecurity in the country and New Orleans is replete with food deserts. The addition of the food cooperative is to combat the scarcity of fresh produce & to produce additional revenue that will not only be reinvested in the cooperative, but in the maintenance of the communal garden. This communal garden in turn provides food for the residents as well as produce that can be found at the cooperative.
The care of the communal garden will be shared between the cooperative employees and the residents. The garden will be organized in larger shared plots that service both the residents and the cooperative as well as smaller individual plots. The garden will grow low maintenance fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes, kale, basil, eggplant, onions, and chard. Residents won't be able to visit their plot every day, so by selecting produce like kale, it will be easier to maintain the garden.
The apartments of Communauté 816 feature a dynamic wall that allows residents to be flexible with the space. Inlaid within the wall is a Murphy bed and a dining table that can descend for use. Residents can store food, belongings, and furniture in the dynamic wall in the interest of maximizing the raumplan.
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