Y(our) Space: Patterns of Community for Seattle Housing

Abstract

This thesis argues that a pattern-based approach to the analysis and design of Seattle’s housing strategies can address our need to achieve a greater balance between communal and autonomous life. The fabric of Seattle’s single-family neighborhoods possess a uniquely diverse and historic character, but overprioritize an autonomous lifestyle, and consequently no longer possess spatial attributes conducive to communal interaction. This prioritizing of autonomy has contributed to issues of density, housing affordability, vehicular dependence, and transient home ownership. The thesis takes the position that communal life is a fundamental element of human health and well being, and that spatial principles that govern our housing fabric can be modified to accommodate communal life while still allowing for personal autonomy and expression. In an attempt to address the issue of communal life at an urban scale, the thesis is founded on design thinking that prioritizes generalizable qualities and repeatable relationships. The project design makes use of structuralist concepts, focusing on the relationship between the individual and the whole. The development of a project-specific communal pattern language provides a succinct set of design principles with which to organize housing at a number of scales. The project thus acts as a model for both housing clusters as an evolving American typology and city blocks organized around shared amenities within each block. The thesis ultimately explores the potential of communally organized space to reform how we identify both as individuals and as participants in our communities.