Re-Entry Housing is a continuation of a project from last term, where students researched and modeled tiny homes for a community created to combat recidivism, which is when formerly incarcerated people struggle to reintegrate into society and end up entering back into the prison system. In the United States formerly incarcerated citizens are ten times more likely to be homeless than the average person, and 77% of those released from the prison system return to it within five years. Re-Entry Housing creates a place where those people can safely get back into society, get jobs, and live their lives, with the freedom and resources they need. 

This community is specifically designed for those who were in the prison system for at least 10 years, and in one case more than 40. The project was designed using a combination of precedent research and site analysis, which informed the programming decisions. A site layout was constructed and digital models of all of the buildings were created in Autodesk Revit. The community houses six to eight permanent residents and eight temporary residents, providing them with protection from the elements as well as the dignity they deserve. Each home is outfitted with a large, private bathroom, a comfortable, homey bedroom, and a kitchen space. The community has a personal, private garden and conversation pit for healing and bonding. There are six raised garden beds on site, where the members will grow their own fruits and vegetables, which they can prepare in the community kitchen or sell in the market. There is also a vast community space, which will hold local events and talks, both indoors and outside. Upstairs is a makerspace where community members and local neighbors can design, cut, paint, build, and create whatever they can imagine. The members also have the opportunity to sell what they make in the market, which provides them with a source of income as well as a recent work history to help them acquire jobs.

Solis is a tiny home designed for people coming out of a life prison sentence to help integrate them back into the world. This was designed to create a tiny home community for recently incarcertated individuals to feel less if an outsider when reentering society. Recidivism rates in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world with almost 44% of criminals released returning to prison within their first year out.

This was designed for incarcertaed individulas who are renetering society. This design focuses on light and openness to allow for the home for feel bigger as well as using a open floor plan for the kitchen and living areas to allow for the most possible space. The second floor features the bedroom bathroom and office space. The second floor features a more private closed off feel with walls separating the rooms to allow for comfort in the most vulnerable spaces. In addion to maxmise the use of outdoor spaces the bottom of the tiny home rolls out to allow for a patio for different outdoor events. The home has big windows in the shape of a right triangle going up the 2 long sides.

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.

Mass incarceration is a major issue that disproportionately threatens black and brown communities. Recidivism, the rate at which people are rearrested after being released from prison, is extremely high. Studies show that in the US. 67.8% of formerly incarcerated people will be rearrested within 3 years of their release. In this studio, we will partner with The Ahimsa Collective (based in Oakland, CA) to develop a permanent tiny home community for formerly incarcerated individuals, providing these returning citizens with a long-term nurturing, safe and healing environment to help ease their transition back into society.

Designing for this clientele means that we have to examine the prison system, to further understand how to ethically design a reentry system for them. We will learn about the historical implications of the prison system through watching documentaries, reading articles and excerpts from books, as well as through first-hand interviews with our client, which we will apply to our design of a tiny home community. We will embark on this journey to be ethical architects understanding the architecture design process and the effects of design on health and well-being, while gaining technical knowledge, through learning drafting and rendering software such as Revit and Enscape.

Tiny Houses is an architectural project focused on the development of a site in Oakland, California. The site is designed to be a community area to house and aid the previously incarcerated. A major part of the design is tiny houses, mobile housing facilities that are designed to house previously incarcerated people while they work to get back on their feet. 

The project uses architecture methods and the study of neuroarchitecture to design the environment to be comfortable and relaxing for the users. Elements such as natural light were used to create a dynamic environment while variable space maximized the storage and living space within an area. Integrating nature is important for the user’s mental well-being as well as keeping the space alive and comfortable.

Solis is a tiny home designed for people coming out of a life prison sentence to help integrate them back into the world. This was designed to create a tiny home community for recently incarcertated individuals to feel less if an outsider when reentering society. Recidivism rates in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world with almost 44% of criminals released returning to prison within their first year out.

This was designed for incarcertaed individulas who are renetering society. This design focuses on light and openness to allow for the home for feel bigger as well as using a open floor plan for the kitchen and living areas to allow for the most possible space. The second floor features the bedroom bathroom and office space. The second floor features a more private closed off feel with walls separating the rooms to allow for comfort in the most vulnerable spaces. In addion to maxmise the use of outdoor spaces the bottom of the tiny home rolls out to allow for a patio for different outdoor events. The home has big windows in the shape of a right triangle going up the 2 long sides.

Amedeo's Brief: ‘The Pod’ is a project creating comfortable, livable tiny homes for formerly incarcerated individuals. These homes are part of a larger community that aims to solve the problem of lack of support for incarcerated people who have recently entered society. Unemployment rates for reentrants today are higher than U.S. unemployment rates during the Great Depression. This lack of support often leads to recidivism (re-entering prison after being released), with 79% of released state prisoners being rearrested within 5 years. This project seeks to solve this by combining cozy living spaces with a socially and economically supportive community to provide a better environment for newly released incarcerated people.

Caroline's Brief: The Pod is a comfortable and private space for formerly incarcerated people who are returning to society. Previously imprisoned people are sequestered from housing, employment, and society because of credit checks. Due to their status it is hard to obtain loans, credit, and open bank accounts. This causes the state prisoner recidivism rate to be around 68 percent  within the first three years after release. The Pod provides people recently released from the prison system with a permanent living space that allows them to get back on their feet. Reentry often causes people to feel isolated and unwanted. Having a place that is a part of a small community to call home  will allow formerly incarcerated people to feel supported as well as ease some of the stress of getting back on their feet.

Anna's brief 

           Shipped Home is a model affordable tiny home developed for formerly incarcerated people in Oakland, California. The design was based on thorough research on life in the prison system and rehabilitating the imprisoned people of the country. The criminal justice system, by and large, focuses on the punishment and not the rehabilitation of these people, leaving them without any education, or a criminal record, preventing them from getting a job, and not allowing them to live in public housing. People incarcerated more than once are thirteen times more likely to be homeless than the general public. This system not only underserves and severely harms a massive percentage of our population, with the highest incarcerated population in the world but also targets the poor and minorities with extreme prejudice. 

          This project aims to attack that problem, creating affordable housing that allows the formerly incarcerated to not only live with a roof over their head but live with dignity. There are few opportunities for formally incarcerated lifers to get jobs and rent apartments. Shipped home allows these people to regain their lives, rehabilitate themselves, and reintegrate into society. Leaving these people on the streets only further pushes them toward recidivism. A shipped home allows for an open-feeling tiny house with plenty of space, air circulation, and an entertaining room. Small but mighty, this home has a full bathroom, a loft bed, a full kitchen, a living room, an outdoor deck, and tons of storage space, allowing the people living in these tiny homes more agency over their lives than ever before.

Anna's brief 

           Shipped Home is a model affordable tiny home developed for formerly incarcerated people in Oakland, California. The design was based on thorough research on life in the prison system and rehabilitating the imprisoned people of the country. The criminal justice system, by and large, focuses on the punishment and not the rehabilitation of these people, leaving them without any education, or a criminal record, preventing them from getting a job, and not allowing them to live in public housing. People incarcerated more than once are thirteen times more likely to be homeless than the general public. This system not only underserves and severely harms a massive percentage of our population, with the highest incarcerated population in the world but also targets the poor and minorities with extreme prejudice. 

          This project aims to attack that problem, creating affordable housing that allows the formerly incarcerated to not only live with a roof over their head but live with dignity. There are few opportunities for formally incarcerated lifers to get jobs and rent apartments. Shipped home allows these people to regain their lives, rehabilitate themselves, and reintegrate into society. Leaving these people on the streets only further pushes them toward recidivism. A shipped home allows for an open-feeling tiny house with plenty of space, air circulation, and an entertaining room. Small but mighty, this home has a full bathroom, a loft bed, a full kitchen, a living room, an outdoor deck, and tons of storage space, allowing the people living in these tiny homes more agency over their lives than ever before.