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The proposed 92-unit housing project provides many scales of communal spaces that lace throughout the building. Each apartment extends beyond its own walls into a meso-spatial zone which not only provides a thermal buffer to the exterior climate but also creates a layered interior that extends and reconfigures inhabitants’ living spaces depending on the season and time of day.
Apartments are clustered in groups of six and divided into two levels, which vary in size and may attract different types of residents: the first floor of each cluster prioritizes senior tenants while the second level houses young adults as well as families with kids. This arrangement allows seniors, who usually have more spare time, to take care of plants and vegetables within the common greenhouse corridor and encourages young people and kids to interact with the elders as they wish to utilize the common areas. In some cases, the shared kitchen is situated within the actual greenhouse; and in other instances game tables, planting boxes, or lounge furniture entice residents to socialize in this sunlit space. When the greenhouse ribbon connects to the ground, larger glassy areas offer communal programs such as a library and gym open to the adjacent community, directly connected to the public courtyard and weekly farmers’ market.