UPCYCLING VERNACULAR IDENTITIES

Garner Development identified an housing opportunity within the City of Greenville, SC. The prospective project is a housing development and undervalued parcel of land that would be financed by HUD funding.
The task is to design a Multifamily Residential Development utilizing shipping containers as primary structural system and building envelope components. Current site data indicates allowable 6.56 dwelling units per acre – this would appear to allow only two (2) three level “buildings.” On this parcel. Any proposed schemes will incorporate the permitted density or propose increase to density based upon approved variance. The site location will be 2204 W Parker Road, Greenville, SC. Given that the City Council was looking for innovative proposals and hoping to invest funds into the site and surrounding neighborhood, we completed this study to the benefit of the common good as a pro bono effort.
ArcGIS 3D Geospatial modeling and visualization techniques learned during doctoral studies at UF DCP provided invaluable support for our urban analysis and context investigations. The essential question of this research was : How can vernacular housing common to the Carolinas could be reimagined and inform residential transformation for blighted sites in developing neighborhoods? A question of cultural identity participating in the discharge spatial-political necessity. The ensuing proposal was a neo-vernacular housing prototype that employed shipping containers and conventional construction in a hybrid approach to Multi-Family Housing.