Arch. D. Project Proposal

My Project Proposal is now out to my committee for review. Here's an excerpt from my Project Statement, outlining what I hope to accomplish through my research and design:

"As median home prices in Hawaii continue to increase, nearly doubling over the past six years, the problem of affordable housing for average income residents continues to grow. There have been efforts by developers and government housing agencies to alleviate this problem, but demand continues to outstrip supply. Furthermore, developers are struggling to breakeven building conventional stick-built affordable homes unless there are sufficient incentives and tax credits offered by the government.

To better address the above issues, there must be a fundamental shift in the strategy of planning and building affordable high-quality, high-performance housing in Hawaii. We can no longer rely on conventional development strategies and conventional construction techniques to solve the problem. In the face of energy conservation and environmental deterioration, as well as the limited amount of residential zoned land in Hawaii, it will be more prudent to develop affordable housing as multi-family residential complexes rather than sprawling developments of single-family homes. On the construction front, designers and builders should look to the opportunities afforded by modern prefabrication technology as a means to build housing better, faster, and cheaper. Possibilities such as off-site modular volumetric construction, factory assembly processes, prefabricating components using computer-controlled milling and cutting, and the use of standardized, off-the-shelf components should all be considered.

In addition to cost and affordability, the design and construction of new housing in Hawaii must be planned carefully with regards to its context, the quality of living it provides, and its impact on the earth. The quality and performance of affordable residences must be held to high standards if it is to provide a sustainable solution.

To truly visualize what modern prefabrication technology can offer as a solution to affordable housing in Hawaii, this project will provide a design prototype for a prefabricated multi-family residential complex. This design exercise will put into practice the ideas and methods collected throughout the research process to show how modern prefabrication technology can provide a promising solution to the affordable housing problem in Hawaii."