Introduction: Aleksis Bertoni
I am an architect, builder, and the co-founder of Type Five, a California-based architecture and technology company that aims to increase access to housing and improve the long-term environmental and economic outcomes of homeownership. Type Five builds low-cost, environmentally efficient homes that are designed to be customized and adapted over time.
 |
Exterior Rendering
|
The homes are initially built as simple, open floor plan spaces, which are designed to be reconfigured over time. We empower homeowners by providing them with a digital platform where they can design prefabricated upgrades and interior additions to their homes when and how they see fit. By starting with a simple structure that can develop over time, we can offer our homes at a lower price, while giving owners more control over their residential space.
 |
Kitchen Rendering
|
My business partner is a software engineer who has started multiple technology companies and has now set his sights on building tools that help solve the housing crisis in California. We work with advisors who are master carpenters, general contractors, automation experts and prefabrication specialists to bring together the digital and physical realms we operate within.
 |
Isometric Interior Perspective
|
We are working to understand how many design choices our homeowners need to feel in control of their space. At what point do too many options feel cumbersome? What features have we not accounted for yet? Are there things we are building that people in fact don’t need? This continuous process of real-time, post-occupancy evaluation allows us to understand the motivations of our homeowners. We can then use these insights to build new tools to improve the domestic experience of Type Five owners.
 |
Bedroom Rendering
|
This year’s prompt asks applicants to ‘design a housing project for the disadvantaged’. I would like to argue that in increasingly unaffordable housing markets throughout the world, we need to expand the definition of the “disadvantaged” to now also include middle income would-be homeowners who have effectively been priced out of the market. We need design and policy solutions that can meet the growing unaffordability crisis that has resulted in increased rent burden, housing insecurity, and homelessness. This crisis demands new ideas, new programs, and new voices that envision how to serve each economic strata of the housing market.
As a Berkeley Prize participant, what ideas do you have for helping address the lack of housing affordability across the world?
|
|
|
 Elli Mosayebi, Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin Architects (BP2022 Juror): vacancy – no vacancy project. "The two built-in platforms contain numerous storage compartments for personal belongings." (See Essay Question: Introductions by jurors.)
 Onizuka Crossing Housing, David Baker Architects, San Francisco, 2016. The result of a partnership between MidPen Housing and the City of Sunnyvale, California, U.S.A., Onizuka Crossing provides 58 low-income working families with new, affordable rental homes in Sunnyvale, the heart of the Silicon Valley. Twenty-nine units are reserved for formerly homeless individuals and their families. (See: https://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/178/Onizuka%20Crossing%20Family%20Housing.html) Photo credit: ©Bruce Damonte.from DBArchitect.com.
 Onizuka Crossing Housing, David Baker Architects, 2016. "Former homeless residents receive extensive supportive services in collaboration with the Santa Clara County Department of Behavioral Health and the U.S. Veterans Administration Palo Alto Healthcare System... Onizuka Crossing is a prime example of infill development, transforming a U.S. National Guard armory building into supportive, permanent affordable housing." (See: https://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/178/Onizuka%20Crossing%20Family%20Housing.html) Photo credit: ©Bruce Damonte from DBArchitect.com.
 S. Tetteh + Associates Architects, Accra, Ghana. Low-cost housing project for rangers and conservation staff at the Bia and Ankasa Reserves, Juabeso-Bia district, southwest Ghana.
 S. Tetteh + Associates Architects, Accra, Ghana. Low-cost housing project for rangers and conservation staff at the Bia and Ankasa Reserves, Juabeso-Bia district, southwest Ghana.  Fondazione Housing Sociale, Milan, Italy: The Housing Foundation developed a class to help future residents form a collaborative community in their housing development. Research by Dorit Fromm, Writer, Architect, BP2022 Juror: (See Essay Question: Introductions by jurors.)
 From the manual "Starting Up Communities, A Design Kit for Collaborative Housing," Fondazione Housing Sociale, Milan, Italy. Research by Dorit Fromm, Author, Architect, BP2022 Juror: (See Essay Question: Introductions by jurors.)
 Mehr als Wohnen, Switzerland: Childcare and afterschool care are located on the ground floor level of the housing, as well as a café and other neighborhood services. Research by Dorit Fromm, Author, Architect, BP2022 Juror: (See Essay Question: Introductions by jurors.)
      Williams Terrace, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A., Architect of Record, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, Spartanburg, South Carolina, U.S.A. /Design Architect, David Baker Architect, San Francisco, California, U.S.A., 2017. "Williams Terrace won the 2019 American Institute of Architects/Housing and Urban Development Secretary's Housing and Community Design Award for Excellence in Affordable Housing Design. This singular nation-wide award recognizes architecture that demonstrates overall excellence in terms of design in response to both the needs and constraints of affordable housing... Wide porches that double as circulation offer places to sit, meet in passing, and personalize a bit of outdoor space." (See: https://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/176/Williams%20Terrace%20.html) Photo credit: Chris Luker from DBArchitect.com.
 Williams Terrace, Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A., Architect of Record, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, Spartanburg, South Carolina, U.S.A. /Design Architect, David Baker Architect, San Francisco, California, U.S.A., 2017. "The design team worked closely with the Housing Authority of the City of Charleston to create a dynamic building that meets the challenges of the site—located in a high-velocity flood zone—and respects the gracious built fabric of downtown historic Charleston... Apartments connect to the wide circulation porches, which have room for some personal touches." (See: https://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/176/Williams%20Terrace%20.html) Photo credit: Chris Luker from DBArchitect.com.
 Vindmøllebakken, 40-unit cohousing project, Stavanger, Norway, 2019. Designed by founding architects Siv Helene Stangeland and Reinhard Kropf of Norwegian firm Helen & Hard. The architects now live in Vindmøllebakken. Photo credit: Minna Soujoki Langbord/Courtesy of Helen & Hard via Editon.CNN.com
 Vindmøllebakken, 40-unit cohousing project, Stavanger, Norway, 2019. In addition to Vindmøllebakken (see previous slide), Helen & Hard are reported to having five other cohousing projects in the works. Photo credit: Sindre Ellingsen/Courtesy of Helen & Hard via Edition.CNN.com
 Easter Hill Village, Richmond, U.S.A., 1954. Demolished, 2004. "It was the most significant public effort to provide affordable permanent housing for many families displaced by demolition of temporary World War II housing. It was the first multi-unit residential development to combine the twin themes of the planned unit development with the individuation of units... and the care given to integrating a multi-unit residential development to its site." Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, U.S.A. (See: https://www.loc.gov/item/ca3350/)
 Richmond Village (formerly Easter Hill Village - see previous slide), California, U.S.A., 2008. "The goal for the …Richmond Village project was to turn 300 units of crime-ridden, run-down public housing into a vital neighborhood anchored by a community center and public open space. The development was originally built in 1954 and was a model of public housing until neglect, crime and poverty took over. The Richmond Housing Authority together with Richmond Village…residents collaborated to re-construct a vision of community. The vision included open/community space with mixed-income housing; 100% of the rental housing is affordable, with 70% allocated for public housing residents. The for-sale family homes have a mix of low, moderate and market-rate housing." (See: https://www.nibbi.com/projects/richmond-village/)
|
|
