Architects Mohammad Jabi and Liyan Jabi shared with is their proposal for the Affordable Housing for the Future Competition in Abu Alanda, Jordan. See more images and architect’s description after the break.
The predicament of production housing – often prevalent in low-income housing projects – sets the individual nature of domesticity at odds with standardized building practices. Instead of reducing residents to their perceived least common denominator, we propose a “building set” that composes a diverse platform from which individual lives may be played out. Walking around the development grounds, you are greeted with a refreshing diversity of facades, green plazas and courtyards, instead of a typical cookie cutter style of similar housing projects. Nonetheless, the building set is still a replicable model that could be developed in any other location, striking a balance between diversity and pragmatism.
Within this set, a modern interpretation of the age-old courtyard is reborn. Here, 21 dwellings converge around this common space, engaging ecology and connecting community. Community planting gardens intersperse the building grounds, keeping the connection alive between the inhabitant, the land that is home and neighbors all around.
The apartments themselves are set up in two different topologies: a linear ground-floor plan and an alternative linear/L-shaped layout in subsequent floors. Both set ups allow each apartment to enjoy views to the outer surroundings as well as a view to the courtyard within. However, a sense of privacy is maintained through the adopted window treatment. Each home benefits from passive cooling and heating features, renewable energy sources, massive earthen walls built with local material, efficient insulation, water and energy saving design.
Environmental Engineer: Shada Al-Sharif
