Affordable Housing Ensemble

ARCH 4102 Design Studio, Part II — Proformalism · Manack + Swisher · UNC Charlotte School of Architecture · Spring 2019

by Clark Cheng, Fritz Ababio , & Lari McAbee-Meza

Rhino 3ds Max Illustrator Photoshop InDesign GIS

This project is the second half of the Ensembles studio. Under the studio position of proformalism, the texture, weave, and shallow relief studies developed in the first half were used collaboratively as the generative logic for a large-scale, affordable housing ensemble in Charlotte — triangulating relationships between policy and economics, public space, and urban form. The brief called for innovative organizational strategies to challenge barriers to affordable housing, offering speculative scenarios for developments that are equitable and profitable, and that promote inclusive development, neighborhood stabilization, and sustainable lifestyles for mixed-income residents.

Special thanks to my teammates Fritz Ababio and Lari McAbee-Meza. They are the reason the project had so much success and quality work.

Full studio brief and methodology, for reference (same syllabus as Part I):

Precedent Research

Research began with Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67, a modular housing precedent whose stacked, offset units and private outdoor terraces informed the studio's approach to unit aggregation and balcony logic. This was paired with a geometric "precedent recipe" — gridding and massing, boundary conditions, inverse space, and intersection — used to translate the precedent's underlying organizational logic into a hybrid massing strategy.

Habitat 67 balcony precedent diagram
Precedent recipe rendering 1 Precedent recipe rendering 1, AO pass Precedent recipe rendering 2 Precedent recipe rendering 2, AO pass Precedent recipe hybrid render Precedent recipe hybrid render, AO pass

Precedent recipe diagram set:

Site Analysis & Organizing Strategies

The Charlotte site was analyzed through GIS data — parcels, building footprints, floodway boundaries, park property, bus routes, and census demographics — to identify constraints and opportunities for density. A figure-ground study and a custom heightmap-driven surface (derived from a bitmap gradient) were used to translate that site data into an organizing datum for the massing strategy.

Figure ground rendering Figure ground rendering, AO pass Bitmap driving the heightmap Heightmap surface Heightmap surface, iteration 2 Heightmap surface with bitmap texture Final surface map Isocurve study

Massing Taxonomy & Pro Forma

A taxonomy of massing strategies — semi-dense arrangements and superimposed, intersecting volumes — was tested against the module typologies established in the first half of the studio. Each module type carries a unit mix and a pro forma calculation, tying formal decisions directly back to unit count, square footage, and economic feasibility — the "proformalism" of the studio's premise.

Taxonomy: Semi-Dense Massing

Semi-dense massing iteration 1 Semi-dense massing iteration 2 Semi-dense massing iteration 3 Semi-dense massing iteration 4 Semi-dense massing iteration 5

Taxonomy: Superimposed Massing

Superimposed massing iteration 1 Superimposed massing iteration 2 Superimposed massing iteration 3 Superimposed massing iteration 4 Superimposed massing iteration 5

Module Typology & Pro Forma

Module typology and pro forma diagram
Massing diagram 1 Massing diagram 2 Massing diagram 3 Middle portion massing study

Circulation and diagram studies for the site's middle portion:

Massing — Iteration 2

A second massing pass tested the taxonomy across the full site, developing plan and axonometric renderings to evaluate density, courtyard formation, and building separation before finalizing the site's overall organization.

Massing iteration 2, plan view Massing iteration 2, plan view AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 1 Massing iteration 2, rendering 1 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 2 Massing iteration 2, rendering 2 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 3 Massing iteration 2, rendering 3 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 4 Massing iteration 2, rendering 4 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 5 Massing iteration 2, rendering 5 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 6 Massing iteration 2, rendering 6 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 7 Massing iteration 2, rendering 7 AO Massing iteration 2, rendering 8 Massing iteration 2, rendering 8 AO

Individual Development — Phase 1

Ahead of finalizing the ensemble collaboratively, each student developed an individual design-development phase. These are my own axonometric and plan renderings from that phase, testing unit aggregation and courtyard massing before the studio's final review.

Phase 1 axonometric render 1 Phase 1 axonometric render 1, AO pass Phase 1 axonometric render 2 Phase 1 axonometric render 2, AO pass Phase 1 axonometric render 3 Phase 1 axonometric render 3, AO pass Phase 1 plan rendering 1 Phase 1 plan rendering 1, AO pass Phase 1 plan rendering 2 Phase 1 plan rendering 2, AO pass Phase 1 plan rendering 3 Phase 1 plan rendering 3, AO pass

Final Design — Renderings

The finalized ensemble combined the module taxonomy, site-driven massing, and precedent-informed unit aggregation into a single scheme: a series of offset, courtyard-forming buildings distributed across the site's organizing datum.

Atmospheric perspective 1

Atmospheric perspective 2
Final rendering 1 Final rendering 1, AO pass Final rendering 2 Final rendering 2, edited Final rendering 2, AO pass Final rendering 3 Final rendering 3, edited Final rendering 3, AO pass Final rendering 4 Final rendering 4, AO pass Final rendering 5 Final rendering 5, AO pass Final rendering 6 Final rendering 6, edited Final rendering 6, AO pass Final rendering 7 Final rendering 7, edited Final rendering 7, AO pass Final rendering 8 Final rendering 8, AO pass Final rendering 9 Final rendering 9, AO pass Final rendering 10 Final rendering 10, AO pass Final rendering 11 Final rendering 11, AO pass Final rendering 12 Final rendering 12, edited Final rendering 12, AO pass

Color and material study, referenced for the final renderings:

Sections & Site Plan

Longitudinal section, 1:64

Section perspective
Section 1 Section 1, AO pass Section 2 Section 2, AO pass Section 3 Section 3, AO pass Section 4 Section 4, AO pass Left side section Left side section, AO pass Perspective section Site plan render Ground plan render

Final Model Photography

The finalized ensemble was fabricated as a physical model — 3D-printed buildings, CNC-milled site context, and laser-cut roads and sidewalks — and photographed for final review.

Final model photo IMG_4253 Final model photo IMG_4254 Final model photo IMG_4255 Final model photo IMG_4256 Final model photo IMG_4257 Final model photo IMG_4258 Final model photo IMG_4259 Final model photo IMG_4260 Final model photo IMG_4261 Final model photo IMG_4262 Final model photo IMG_4263 Final model photo IMG_4264 Final model photo IMG_4265 Final model photo IMG_4266 Final model photo IMG_4267 Final model photo IMG_4268 Final model photo IMG_4269 Final model photo IMG_4270 Final model photo IMG_4272 Final model photo IMG_4273 Final model photo IMG_4274 Final model photo IMG_4275 Final model photo IMG_4276 Final model photo IMG_4278 Final model photo IMG_4279 Final model photo IMG_4280 Final model photo IMG_4281 Final model photo IMG_4282 Final model photo IMG_4283 Final model photo IMG_4284 Final model photo IMG_4285 Final model photo IMG_4286 Final model photo IMG_4287 Final model photo IMG_4288 Final model photo IMG_4289 Final model photo IMG_4290 Final model photo IMG_4291 Final model photo IMG_4292 Final model photo IMG_4293 Final model photo IMG_4294 Final model photo IMG_4295 Final model photo IMG_4296 Final model photo IMG_4297 Final model photo IMG_4298 Final model photo IMG_4299 Final model photo IMG_4300 Final model photo IMG_4301 Final model photo IMG_4302 Final model photo IMG_4303 Final model photo IMG_4304

Final Presentation Board

The full final review board, brought together for the studio's closing presentation:

Final board, page 1 Final board, page 2 Final board, page 3 Final board, page 4 Final board, page 5 Final board, page 6 Final board, page 7 Final board, page 8 Final board, page 9 Final board, page 10 Final board, page 11 Final board, page 12 Final board, page 13 Final board, page 14 Final board, page 15

Additional review prints:

This ensemble closes out the ARCH 4102 studio — from painterly abstraction, through texture, weave, and shallow relief, to a proposal for equitable, mixed-income housing in Charlotte. See Part I: Ensembles for the studies that generated this project's formal language.