Ralph Rapson Travelling Fellowship 2018
The prompt for 2018’s Rapson Prize was simply “housing”. Whatever and how ever you choose to interpret the concept of housing and on whichever site you wish. I decided to keep the site close to home (literally) and take on issues of economic disparity and lack of housing right in my backyard.
Housing crisis in Frogtown, St. Paul.
There are many forces responsible for the housing crisis in Frogtown, St Paul but two that I’d like to highlight are rising rent to own ratio and very old housing stock. Due to the development of the Green Line LRT, home prices in Frogtown have been steadily on the rise despite many of these homes being built in the 1930s. This, coupled with a growing number absentee landlords create an unfavorable renting market for renters. The solution to this is not necessarily adding housing, but also adding human capital.
“Human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others.”
Plans
The plan is made up of 2 rectangles sliding past one another. The southern side of the plan has the common spaces like urban farm, test kitchen, etc. These are section cuts from sketchup that is drawn over in Illustrator.
“This proposal hopes to both bridge the gap of history and to provide a place to bring people together through recreation, urban farming, eating, and learning.”
Diagrams
Simple pull apart diagram that shows roughly how the exterior materials reflect the programming within.
Final submission
