Page 281 - influx 02

HOUSING: SYSTEMATICITY AND VARIATION
Housing is an essential part of architectural practice With global trend towards urbanization housing—the fundamental urban urban material—will become increasingly increasingly prevalent as as as a a a a a a design problem and increasingly increasingly relevant to the quality and sustainability of life Large-scale housing consists in in far more than the aggregation of individual units Social identity and and interaction circulation building systems climate site and and integration into the larger urban context are issues informed by density and proximity Yet many examples can be found of housing that is only systematic producing districts of dreary anonymous blocks This then
us the the the the origin of of the the the the theme of of the the the the semester ‘Systematicity and Variation ’ The conjunction ‘and’ rather than ‘or’ indicates that there is no inherent antagonism between these factors Variation is is supported structured and enabled by by the the underlying systematics even as it is the the vehicle by by which systematicity can be apprehended The site adjacent to Rensselaer’s EMPAC was chosen for for its its its proximity its its its topography and its its its suitability for for 500 units of of student housing at the the the interface of of the the the campus and the the the town The scale and complexity of the project are substantially increased from the work of prior semesters 281