Wednesday, December 16, 2015 10:00 am
-
10:00 am
EST (GMT -05:00)
Of
the
thesis
entitled: House(Craft):
Mobile
Housing for
a
New
Generation
Abstract:
We
have
been
called
the “entitled”
generation.
We
want
to
be
your
boss
before
we’ve
stepped
through
the door. We
grew
up
in
the
Internet
Age; being
told
we
were
special,
unique,
and
capable
of
anything
we
wanted. We
are between
20
and
30
years
old,
highly educated
and
under-employed. We
want
to buy
houses
but
we
can’t
afford
them.
We
are
the
millennials.
The current housing market is out of reach for first time home buyers. Beyond the price tag, it is not well suited to the mobility of a millennial lifestyle. The design, aggregation, and mobility of dwellings is a reflection of the cultural circumstances in which they are built. The suburbs were built for a different generation. The last generation was financially able to commute, and was willing to sacrifice time in order to afford a large suburban home. The millennials face a different cultural context. Millennials would rather live smaller and more economically in order to live closer to where they work, study, and play. Also, the desire to remain in a viable job market, or to advance their education, requires millennials to relocate frequently. Therefore, the investment in a static house is further delayed due to the requirement to “settle down”. According to a survey by Fanny-Mae 90% of millennials still do aspire to own a house.[1] However a house suited to millennials will differ from its suburban predecessors.
Millennials would rather relocate than commute and herein lies an opportunity. Due to the shifting needs of millennials – primarily economy, mobility and proximity to an urban center, a small, urban, mobile dwelling could better provide access to home ownership. Micro houses could slowly take over unoccupied territories such as those which were previously occupied by the cars of the commuter generation. Surface parking lots could be transformed to create house-parking lots resulting in a denser and more vibrant urban fabric.
Municipal laws around mobile, micro dwellings are complex and highly regional. From their introduction, prefabricated mobile dwellings have been considered a blight due to their relationship to poverty. City zoning officials have relegated them to the edge of the city through exclusionary zoning laws. An increasing number of urban squatters in mobile “tiny houses” are putting pressure on these laws. These early adapters represent a growing desire for a new housing typology and relationship to the city.
My thesis explores the opportunities provided by this concept of ownership and mobility. Individual units could become highly tuned to the person(s) occupying them – morphing each unit into an indispensable platform from which users occupy a city. This new concept of home would allow an increasingly mobile population to resituate with ease – finally reconstituting home with our wandering lifestyle.
The current housing market is out of reach for first time home buyers. Beyond the price tag, it is not well suited to the mobility of a millennial lifestyle. The design, aggregation, and mobility of dwellings is a reflection of the cultural circumstances in which they are built. The suburbs were built for a different generation. The last generation was financially able to commute, and was willing to sacrifice time in order to afford a large suburban home. The millennials face a different cultural context. Millennials would rather live smaller and more economically in order to live closer to where they work, study, and play. Also, the desire to remain in a viable job market, or to advance their education, requires millennials to relocate frequently. Therefore, the investment in a static house is further delayed due to the requirement to “settle down”. According to a survey by Fanny-Mae 90% of millennials still do aspire to own a house.[1] However a house suited to millennials will differ from its suburban predecessors.
Millennials would rather relocate than commute and herein lies an opportunity. Due to the shifting needs of millennials – primarily economy, mobility and proximity to an urban center, a small, urban, mobile dwelling could better provide access to home ownership. Micro houses could slowly take over unoccupied territories such as those which were previously occupied by the cars of the commuter generation. Surface parking lots could be transformed to create house-parking lots resulting in a denser and more vibrant urban fabric.
Municipal laws around mobile, micro dwellings are complex and highly regional. From their introduction, prefabricated mobile dwellings have been considered a blight due to their relationship to poverty. City zoning officials have relegated them to the edge of the city through exclusionary zoning laws. An increasing number of urban squatters in mobile “tiny houses” are putting pressure on these laws. These early adapters represent a growing desire for a new housing typology and relationship to the city.
My thesis explores the opportunities provided by this concept of ownership and mobility. Individual units could become highly tuned to the person(s) occupying them – morphing each unit into an indispensable platform from which users occupy a city. This new concept of home would allow an increasingly mobile population to resituate with ease – finally reconstituting home with our wandering lifestyle.
[1] .
Fannie
Mae,
Fannie
Mae
National
Housing
Survey(tm):
Millennials Look
to
Income
Improvements
as
Key
to
Unlocking
Homeownership,
report,
August 2015,
accessed
November
18,
2015.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
Supervisor:
Maya Przybylski, University of Waterloo
Committee Members:
Ali
Fard,
University
of Waterloo
Matthew Spremulli
External Reader:
Jason Halter, Wonder Inc.
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Wednesday
December
16,
2015
10:00AM
ARC
1001
- Cummings
Lecture
Theatre
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.