Each homeowner has baked-in flexibility to add programmatic features on the undeveloped half of their lot
Researchers
Community Partners and Consultants
- Habitat for Humanity Tucson
- Charlie Buchanan
- Jeff Ocampo
Project Details
Where: Tucson, Arizona
When: October 2023 - February 2024
Project Overview
Habitat for Humanity Tucson engaged the Drachman Institute to re-envision their model of affordable single family housing construction. Land and construction costs in Tucson have pushed this model out of financial reach for the communities that they serve. Drachman applied research on missing middle housing and sustainable urban density to create a model of infill development that provides equitable and dignified affordable housing.
These homes are sited in a typical subdevelopment fashion and are treated with exterior details consistent with typical developer housing, which Habitat's future homebuyers prefer over more contemporary details. However, the project stealthily increases housing density, creates high-quality exterior spaces, allows for future adaptability, and applies building energy analyses to the housing units. These strategies allow the community to integrate seamlessly with the surrounding low-density urban context while also baking-in long-term resilience and equity for all future Habitat homebuyers.
The project incorporates passive design features through solar orientation, massing, and rethinking the low-quality social spaces typically associated with single family and multifamily infill construction. An investigation of multifamily historic precedents in Tucson generated strategies for living without the high electrical loads and associated costs of typical developer housing.
The Institute designed floorplans and building massings around Habitat for Humanity Tucson’s new off-site modular construction methodology. This methodology increases construction quality while decreasing labor costs through off-site fabrication and rapid on-site erection of building shell panels. Wet areas and vertical circulation were used to divide the units, so that current and future homeowner have maximum flexibility in the furnishing and use of the interior spaces.
Since a large portion of the site is located in a flood plain, that area was developed into a private outdoor park and recreation space for the Habitat homeowners. Please see Drachman project 'Habitat for Humanity Flood Plain Park' for more details.
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