Shipped homes is a shipping container-based tiny home design that addresses the specific needs of formerly incarcerated people who have served life sentences.

The United States criminal justice system is designed around punishment. Food scarcity, cramped spaces, lack of privacy, and deliberately uncomfortable furniture are the typical conditions of prison life. Countless years of isolation in a hostile environment like this can result in severe mental health issues and a loss of social function. To further add to the challenge of re-entry, formerly incarcerated people can be let out of prison in a community far away from the one they were in before entering prison, sometimes across the city and sometimes hundreds of miles across the state. Once people are out of prison, they are offered little to no aid relating to healthcare, transportation, or housing resources. Given all of these factors, it's no surprise that recidivism (the rate at which people are rearrested after serving their sentence) in America is the highest in the world, at 67.8% after three years.

This project, in collaboration with the Ahimsa Collective (Oakland, CA) and the City of Oakland, seeks to develop a permanent tiny home community to facilitate a healthy transition back into society. The critical touch point of this system is the tiny home, the space in which these people will live for the duration of their stay in the community and potentially beyond. Alongside its various resources, this community features 6 of these tiny homes in tandem with 8 transitional units to house a total of 14 residents. These tiny homes are acquired through a rent-to-own model and must be affordable, transportable via highway, sustainable, and, most of all, livable. 

Because of the high volume of shipping from Asia into California, there is a surplus of shipping containers in port cities like Oakland. Hence, the base structure of this design is a “high cube” 40ft shipping container which provides great structure and space while remaining low cost and easy to transport. To break the uninspiring form of the shipping container (a cube), the middle third of the container is peeled open to create a space for famous California sunlight to flood into the building. The loft bed is directly under this raised section, an important design element that helps save space in a tiny home. The design utilizes convertible furniture like a dresser-desk, and a multifunction kitchen add functionality without occupying unnecessary space. Many complaints about prison conditions focus on shared bathrooms without visual occlusion. The bathroom is a sacred space in everyday human life and is a part of the practice of ritual making, which has been shown to increase productivity and feelings of calm. The tiny home's bathroom includes a full-size shower bath, sink, shelving, and various other elements that make this space feel homey.

The tiny home is so small, it is a personal and intimate space that residents would prefer to avoid inviting others to enter. When inviting a guest into one's home, one generally does not invite them into the bedroom. The break in the shipping containers form extends out to create a covered outdoor area. When the home is set up on the property, a wooden deck is fitted to this side of the structure. This outdoor area is intended to be used as a community interaction (guest) space. Featuring a large seating area, fire pit, and grill.

Shipped homes are one part of a solution to reentry housing. One that incorporates deeply personal spaces as well as spaces focused on community. It is aware of the effect that light and ritual making can have on rehabilitation, especially after an experience as dehumanizing as a prison. It is small but mighty in its utilitarian aspects, and is as beautiful when viewed as a standalone home as it is in a community.