The private housing development is designed for the target market of students at Sam Houston University. The project consists of 64 units at 400 sf each with one bedroom, living area, small kitchen and bathroom. The client specified the housing units would be modular construction for an economy of production made from cross-laminated timber (CLT). The standard dimension of the units allowed a serial repetition where color and position provide the opportunity to differentiate each from the others. The total of 64 units are zoned for the site, which require that the residences are stacked to provide ground area for parking. The sloped site pushed parking into a lower and upper lots with a thin strip in between for the housing. The limited width of the strip constrained by parking to the north and the property line on the south limited the position of the ground floor units to be aligned, creating a datum across the site. The second and third floor units have more flexibility to vary in north-south position, cantilevering over sidewalks and garden space for the ground floor units. The third floor follows a gentle curve that guides the position of units into a cohesive form while the second floor units are recessed creating the appearance of larger cantilevers. The second floor units are turned 90 degrees compared to the first and third floors to use the roof of the lower containers as walkways and balconies.

In the center of the project is the grand stair that connects the upper and lower parking through a communal space. One of the shipping containers bridges over the grand stair north-south circulation axis, providing a walkway on the second and third floors in the perpendicular east-west direction. The bridge leads to the roof deck and small communal room on the third floor. On the ground level, a communal room, kitchen, laundry and management office is located at the centroid of the project, wrapping around a swimming pool, deck and plaza space. The central area is further emphasized by the topological surface that defines the residential units deflecting to the south to open the area for the plaza and pool.  

Client/ Developer: We Roll, LLC.
Location: Huntsville, Texas
Size: 26,600 sq.ft (2,471m2)
Design: 2017
Construction: xxx

Architect: Open Source Architecture / Chandler Ahrens (project leader), Aaron Sprecher
Structural & MEP Engineering: Nick Rodriquez
Contractor: We Roll, LLC.

Awards: AIA Merit Design Award 2019