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Student: Kirsten Crawford
Advisor: Scott Shall
Content Experts: Anirban Adhya, Eric Ward
Millions of Americans today are under-housed and over-leveraged. Many of these people are trapped in a never-ending cycle of dependent rentership, where most of their money that must be spent in order to rent a structure impedes the ability to save the necessary funds to buy their own homes. This creates an increasingly growing gap between homeowners and non-homeowners in the US and traps more and more Americans each year within this cycle. More than a third of Americans rent their homes, ultimately leading to a dearth of attainable housing (Harvard 2020). The demand for rental housing is growing faster than the supply, with the number of renter households increasing by 870,000 from the first quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2023, leading to a decrease in the overall rental vacancy rate, which dropped to 5.8% (Harvard 2023). As the demand for rental properties increases and the supply remains constant, the cost of rent will increase, likely continuing to inflame the situation in the future.
The exponential increase in housing prices and building sizes has proved to be harmful to those not able to afford a roof over their heads. The current average square footage per newly constructed home is 2,561 square feet, which is a 78% increase over a 20-year period (US Census). The growing size of homes has led to a corresponding increase in the cost of housing. This is a problem that must be addressed, as it is making it harder for people to afford a home.
Some architects and others involved in the housing industry have approached housing in a more thoughtful manner, embracing an incremental manner of construction where a family can build as they are able. This in turn prevents homeowners from over-leveraging themselves and promotes a sense of stability. Incremental architecture has the capacity to alleviate the symptoms of the current housing crisis by allowing families to build as they can afford through the agency and freedom of pluggable housing modules. Incrementality will be achieved through modular components that form pluggable connections, facilitating the ability for one to build their housing configuration as they truly can afford to do so. The pluggable nature will not only facilitate the ability to grow their homes but also to subtract from them to leverage profitable investments.
To investigate this concern, this thesis will develop a series of homes located in a low to middle-income neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, known as East Village, where 64% of the residents rent their homes. Detroit is among the many American cities that offer minimal housing options for middle and low-income families. This housing scheme will test the incremental strategies outlined above through the design of pluggable housing modules. If successful, this thesis will show architects an alternative way to approach housing by leveraging new technologies to solve the persistent housing crisis within the United States.
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