ANNA HARGAN

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In partnership with Northsider’s Engaged in Sustainable Transformation (NEST), this project seeks to develop affordable housing solutions in Cincinnati’s Northside neighborhood with the purpose of re-developing aging homes while also seeking to prevent the harmful impacts of gentrification on local low-income residents.

The name ROOT HOUSE was inspired by a number of research and design factors. It initially came from the development of the basement garage and the stacking of program from the basement up. In the sections, program grows wider as you move downward, henceforth, a house with wide roots is a house with strong roots. Another contributing factor to the name was the use of wood within the project, and its sense of vertical growth along the façade of the house. In my mission for this design I wanted to create a home with an ability for connection from space to space. The shifting in the living spaces, giving way to negative space for breathability and ventilation, provides connection from attic to ground floor.

A house that grows and connects within itself will have good roots for growing a family, growing a business, growing in love, and growing in life. Connection like this is ideal to grow in our everyday lives.

Northside is on a track to grow. It is important for research like this to provide the knowledge to avoid and prevent the negative impacts of gentrification within this community. Helping Northside grow their roots for a strong and steady life without fear of being uprooted.

Northside has proven to be a unique neighborhood with a specific set of norms. What is and isn’t built there relies upon the money. Within the last several years it has started to create a new urban appeal to those who live outside the neighborhood in the city or across the river in Kentucky. Many small businesses have made the commercial strip their home and with that a new market. Our goal as a studio was to acknowledge Northside’s growing reputation and to develop homes that would best suit the neighborhood’s needs with a high focus on affordability. Our collaboration with NEST has made us aware of the limitations and goals for this project and helped us to understand what fits in Northside’s urban fabric and what doesn’t. We prescribed what methods of construction, materials, and amenities would be welcomed and affordable, and ruled out what would contribute to the negative impacts of gentrification.

Our method for assigning research included a lottery. We took examples and learned from past similar studios what constraints were important and needed to be explored. Each student, out of fifteen, was given eight constraints from eight different categories at random: Site, Attitude Towards the Street, Occupancy Type, Roofline, Construction Type, Sustainable Strategies, Components, and Accessibility.

This project explores one of fifteen outcomes from this initial exercise. This project contains the following eight constraints: Site 2, Private Attitude Towards the Street, Family, Gable, Stick Built, Water Management, Garage, and Visitable.

Through addressing the Garage constraint other constraints were able to be fulfilled. Privacy became naturally interwoven with this design given that a sunken garage or paved driveway adds to the Privacy of the house due to the larger setback. This design move allowed for the south wall to be available for Passive Solar strategies, filtering into the rear of the house where the living spaces have been arranged.

Most existing buildings in the neighborhood have On-street parking.

Having a Garage of one’s own would be ideal but the research shows that Garages can add to the pricing of the house. I further developed my design options and produced a paved, above ground option to reduce cost but still address and provide Off-street parking. The paved option allows Privacy with a large setback and reduces cost.

But the question still remains, is a basement ideal for Northside?

It depends on who you are asking. Basements and sunken garages would provide shelter against natural disasters and extra space for storage. Most of the sites in this area will need to be excavated in some form or fashion anyways. Paved driveways are the more cost-effective solution but leave the house with less storage opportunities and no underground shelter in cases of emergency.

Addressing the everyday life of Northsider’s has proven to be the key to the successfulness in this research. Understanding the daily circulation of occupancy types during the day, the week, the month, the year has provided research on the natural circulation of the home. Design with Northside in mind, this project provides an affordable housing solution for this unique community.

ANNA HARGAN 02 ROOT HOUSE

ROOT HOUSE

The Garage constraint has been accompanied by great debate, considering that most existing buildings on this street only address onstreet parking. However, by utilizing off-street parking, several other constraints were able to be fulfilled. A Private Attitude towards the Street and Water Management became natural components within this design. With a larger setback from the street, a sunken Garage or paved driveway adds an additional measure of privacy to the house.

This opens the south wall for Passive Solar strategies, light filters into the rear of the house, into the living spaces. By flipping the program from having bedrooms at the back of the house to the front, the dynamic of the interior responds directly to the conditions of the exterior.

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

STREET ATTITUDE LOT

LOT

1627-1629

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

1

LOT

LEAST COMPATIBLE 1627-1629

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

SITE 02

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

LOT CONSTRUCTION TYPE

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

CONSTRUCTION TYPE 1627-1629

PRIVATE

1631 COOPER COOPER

CO 16531631 COOPE

1631 COOPER COOPER

CO 16531631 COOPE

COOPER 16531631 COOPER

1657 1653COOPER COOPER

1

STREET ATTITUDE

STREET ATTITUDE SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS ACCESSIBILITY STREET ATTITUDE STREET ATTITUDE

FAMILY

COOPER COOPER 1631 COOPER COOPER

COOPER

LOT

1627-1629

STREET ATTITUDE

STREET ATTITUDE

NEUTRAL

LOT

COOPERLOT LOT 1642 POWERS 1657 1657 COOPER 16531631 COOPER 1653COOPER COOPER 1627-1629 1627-1629 MOST COMPATIBLE 1631 C COOPER LOT 1627-1629 1627-1629

1631 COOPER COOPER

COOPER

STREET ATTITUDE CONSTRUCTION STREET ATTITUDE TYPE SYSTEMS CONSTRUCTION TYPE SUSTAINABLE ACCESSIBILITY

ACCESSIBILITY

1657 COOPER

1653 COOPER

1627-1629

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

STREET ATTITUDE

1631 COOPER

COOPER

STREET ATTITUDE SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS COMPONENTS

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

ACCESSIBILITY SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS COMPONENTS

ACCESSIBILITY

GABLE

ROOFLINE ACCESSIBILITY

ACCESSIBILITY

ACCESSIBILITY COMPONENTS COMPONENTS ACCESSIBILITY ACCESSIBILITY

ACCESSIBILITY COMPONENTS

ROOFLINE

STICK

OCCUPANCY TYPE LOT COMPONENTS

LOT COMPONENTS

COMPONENTS 1627-1629

COMPONENTS 1627-1629

CONSTRUCTION TYPE CONSTRUCTION COMPONENTS TYPE COMPONENTS ROOFLINE ROOFLINE

ROOFLINE

OCCUPANCY TYPE 1631 COOPER COOPER

STREET ATTITUDE OCCUPANCY TYPE ROOFLINE

GARAGE

STREET ATTITUDE

WATER

COOPER

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

ROOFLINE

ROOFLINE

ROOFLINE

ROOFLINE

OCCUPANCY TYPE ROOFLINE LOT

LOT OCCUPANCY TYPE 1627-1629

CONSTRUCTION TYPE

VISITABLE

OCCUPANCY TYPE

STREET ATTITUDE

OUND 02

OUND 01

165 16

1627-1629

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

ACCESSIBILITY

COOPER 16531631 COOPER

OCCUPANCY TYPE

OCCUPANCY TYPE

OCCUPANCY TYPE

OCCUPANCY TYPE

COOPER OCCUPANCY TYPE

1631 COOPER COOPER

CO 16531631 COOPE

STREET ATTITUDE

ACCESSIBILITY

LEAST COMPATIBLE

NEUTRAL

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS COMPONENTS

ACCESSIBILITY

COMPONENTS

ACCESSIBILITY

MOST COMPATIBLE

ANNA HARGAN 04 ROOT HOUSE

ROOFLINE

ROOFLINE

N DY

IC

AM

WS DO

N WI

S

OR DO

C ME

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CA

NI

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ANNA HARGAN 06 ROOT HOUSE

ANNA HARGAN 08 ROOT HOUSE

ANNA HARGAN

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ROOT HOUSE

The argument still remains, is a basement Garage ideal for Northside?

It depends on who you are asking. Basements and sunken Garages would provide shelter against natural disasters and extra space for Storage Systems. Most of the sites in this area will need to be excavated due to their history of previous foundations. New research to develop a number of parking options will be beneficial, not only for this project, but all of Northside. Addressing how paved driveways could be accepted and used by the neighborhood will be necessary in considering the significance of affordability within this research studio.

ANNA HARGAN

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ROOT HOUSE