Pittsburg Housing, Pittsburg, PA.
for
role
status
year
GSA
Principal
Competition Entry
1992
The competition brief sought to define a model for housing on a steeply sloping site in the Garfield section of Pittsburgh. The desire was to create a new model for urban housing that would be responsive to the specific local context and site while still providing strategies that could be enacted elsewhere.
In addition to the requested units, the proposed design provided infrastructure and amenities that would define the “urban” in the form of commercial workspace, day-care, on-site recreation space and a communal garden. It was believed that the success of the housing would be increased if opportunities could be provided for self-employment and entrepreneurship which would help foster a local economy along with public space that encouraged social engagement through shared resources and facilities.
Inspired by the existing site infrastructure and housing typologies, the housing was sited with the principal of creating maximum site access at all points along the perimeter. Paths were created to enable the site to be traversed as a continuous landscape. It was intended that the housing did not only address the street but was omnidirectional and identified with the dramatic sloping landscape at the interior of the site. Though this was to encourage public occupation of the site, privacy for the homeowners was ensured in the form of walled gardens and private roof terraces. A range of unit types were provided that responded to the community’s rich demographic.
