By Sara R. Sepanski
A FABRIC FOR
DWELLING
Photos courtesy of HKS Inc.
Personal choice in housing is fundamental. Homes are an expression of lifestyle and individual ways of living—even within a single culture—are diverse. A response to personal choice in housing is most evident in the number of model homes, flexible homes, and custom homes that are available today. yet over time, even these strategies are not enough. Because a home may accommodate more than one family over the course of its lifetime, it is not unusual to see a family renovate an existing home to more closely match their lifestyle needs. The approach of an organization like Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes in over 80 countries, is to design a home for a family’s needs based on cultural norms. A Habitat home in Africa, for example, includes a kitchen area outside the house, as meals are prepared outdoors in most African countries. In the Philippines, a Habitat house provides a small outdoor utility porch, customarily used for doing laundry and other chores. Habitat homes are, in effect, an artifact of culture. In a country such as the United States, with a population made up of many cultures and sub-cultures, housing that accommodates diverse ways of living is essential. 18
FALL 2010
Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity, which has built over 700 homes in Dallas County, is currently involved in an effort with the City of Dallas to revitalize the South Dallas neighborhood of Bonton. Last November, young architectural professionals at Dallas-based HKS Inc. proposed alternative Habitat designs for single-family dwellings as part of the 4th Annual HKS Design Fellowship held in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and the buildingcommunityWORKSHOP (bcWORKSHOP), a Dallas not-for-profit group. The fellows analyzed the Dallas Habitat single-family model and studied narratives provided by Habitat for three example families who would live in the proposed homes. After a two-day charrette, the participants presented their design