Architect’s Design For Homeless Quarters Wins Award

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A broken vacuum cleaner, assorted tools, a collection of clock pieces, and a stuffed armadillo inspired Aaron Gabriel's reinvention of a nine-dollar-a-night lodging house. A project designer for the University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC), Aaron Gabriel and colleague Kathy Chang have won a prestigious award for a design that creates a glowing, orderly space for those transitioning out of homelessness. As one of five first-prize winners selected in The First Step Housing Design Competition, their design will be built and tested as a prototype in the Andrews Hotel, a century-old lodging house in New York City's Bowery District.

The competition, sponsored by Common Ground and the Architecture League of New York, called for a narrow floor plan consisting of 19 dwelling units - each about half the size of the average car. Comprehensive guidelines shaped the design process: each cubicle needed to be pre-fabricated, portable, sturdy, cost no more than $5000, and house a desk, chair, bed, refrigerator, and wardrobe. Gabriel and Chang's design goes several steps further by creating a customizable space with ample shelving for the personal arrangement of treasured possessions.

"We focused on creating a space of access and interaction, allowing the architecture to become secondary to the collections of the inhabitants," Gabriel said. "The everyday pleasure of putting things in order helps people relate to the world. Especially when they have no permanent space - the objects they surround themselves with become tremendously important."

Gabriel and Chang responded to the hotel's dark, narrow (and threatening) halls by using translucent polycarbonate panels for the hallway walls. The panels glow with light from the windows in each cubicle, and personalize each unit by highlighting the colors and patterns of the things stacked within. Dutch doors, divided horizontally so that the top half may be opened separately from the bottom half, enhance the communal spirit of the hallway. Each cubicle interlocks for structural support, and wire cages that disappear between units ensure security for inhabitants.

"We are very fortunate to have a national design talent like Aaron Gabriel here at the Community Design Center," noted UACDC Director Stephen Luoni. "This award brings well-deserved recognition to his ongoing research into affordable housing. Aaron's work is particularly significant since it shows that innovative design can admirably serve all social sectors and resource levels," he added.

Gabriel recently completed his master's degree in architecture at Columbia University. He was working with the New York City firm Daniel Frankfurt, P.C. specializing in transportation infrastructure before joining his long-time colleague Luoni at the UACDC. Gabriel turned in his proposal for the competition just before beginning his new position.

"We stayed up all night, delivered the board, and then I jumped on the plane and came here," he said.

This isn't the first time Gabriel has addressed housing for the homeless. Earlier this year, he assisted his colleague Daniela Fabricius on her prototype design for Habitat for Humanity that won first place. He is particularly impressed with Common Ground, a ten-year-old organization that has committed to ending homelessness by providing a number of options for people on society's margins. The First Step Housing Program, for example, offers short-term housing based on the single room occupancy (SRO) lodging house - a historic New York City housing type - to individuals who are transitioning to permanent housing.

"I like the larger vision of this group," Gabriel said. "They've provided a economically sound model for a very difficult social situation. They also recognize the value of design in enhancing their model and the lives of the people it works for. This is a tremendous step forward." Gabriel praised the feasibility of the lodging house scheme, noting that rental fees would repay construction costs within three years.

"This liberates funds for much needed counseling and rehabilitation services and remains profitable enough to create more transitional facilities," he said.

The winning designs for the competition will be exhibited at the Prince George Ballroom in Manhattan from November 12 - December 12. Construction on the prototypes will begin next summer.