Forest track at back entrance of housing
Productive Social Housing
This project’s design concept weaves the production (growing, harvesting, cooking, and eating) of food within the architecture to help foster community in social housing. Sited along an old campsite in a valley surrounded by forest reserve, near the center of Porirua City, NZ. The building responds to these conditions by stepping up the hillside and a sawtooth edge in plan which opens and nestles the housing units into the existing forest. There are three vertical circulation cores which operate as green houses, with a glazed atrium to the terrace, growing vegetables (such as eggplant, capsicum and tomato) which cascade down the stairwell void. The roof terrace combines social space with raised vegetable planters as balustrades. Each apartment has a balcony with herb planters. The building has shared spaces for cooking, dining, socializing, co-working, and laundry facilities. The ground floor engages with the surrounding community through small stalls that open out to form a market beside the street. On the second floor a café, serving the harvested food, further integrates the inhabitants within the neighboring area.