INSIDE OUT

The mid-density multi-family housing project aspires to reshape the Oakland cityscape by creating a dialogue between domestic lives and streets. The architecture's elevation becomes a scroll painting, and the aperture becomes the canvas where the dwellers create their own narrative. By framing domestic life with the windows facing Broadway - the artery of Downtown Oakland, the citizens are the curators of the city. Elevation as a generator: The city is primarily read and experienced in the “space between the building fronts” as Walter Benjamin calls it. This project investigates the concepts of regulation, ownership, and architectural form through the lens of the relationship between housing and the streets. It explores the potential of the “building front”. This project investigates the concepts of regulation, ownership, and architectural form through the lens of the relationship between housing and the streets. It explores the potential of the “building front” as a catalyst in creating a relevant contemporary model for large-scale housing and a new urban commons in Oakland. The architectural elevations serve as a device to generate new relationships among urban form, boundaries, density, and legibility. It is no longer just a space divider, but a generator of connection, communication, meaning, shared spaces, and environment stewardship. TEAM: CHRISSIE CHEN