A New Housing Model for Social and Environmental Resilience in Houston’s Third Ward, with Lene-Mari Sollie

This ambitious, holistic and replicable vision seeks to provide an affordable, socially cohesive and climate change-resilient housing option for one of Houston’s most vulnerable communities.

It proposes that any new residential development in the Texan city’s Third Ward must increase density to bring down the cost for developers and buyers and satisfy demands for affordable habitation away from the floodplain; maintain the essential spatial and social qualities to which Houstonians are accustomed; and protect residents from flooding while reintroducing porous surfaces to the urban landscape to mitigate runoff.

It’s encompassed by a novel, hyper-densified take on the shotgun house model typical of the area, where the porch has long been a place for gathering. Within a permeable envelope featuring generous operable windows, this new iteration flips the porches from the short end to the long side in order to organize units in a linear formation while maximizing opportunities for natural light and cross-ventilation