by Natalia Smiarowski

It’s week 2 of DesignBuild and students are quickly getting into site analysis of our lot in Holyoke, MA!

Eren and Ivy’s collage of building styles in the surrounding neighborhood.

Monday, we collaborated in pairs to research and present vital information about the wider context of our site in relation to Holyoke. Prior to the presentations, we discussed the importance of site context and things we should take into consideration when choosing the home’s location within the parcel. We had a lively discussion after reading “Hope VI and New Urbanism” by Peter Calthorpe and “Why Site Matters” by Andrea Khan and Carol Burns. 

On Wednesday, individual site design presentations were underway. We all came up with a variety of solutions! Where to place the home on the site and whether or not to skew the footprint were major points of discourse. However, placing the home orthogonally in the northeast corner of the lot proved to be the most popular choice to allow for a cohesive look with the surrounding neighborhood and create space for an ample sun-lit garden area. 

Up next, we are working on precedent studies about similar projects to familiarize ourselves with ADUs and other small single-family homes. Stay tuned!