Habitable Walls, Courtyard Homes in Urban Places

Abstract

In the United States, the living urban environment in the last two centuries has almost completely disappeared. Dense urban environments as viable and normal places to live have become a thing of the past. Living in the suburbs has become the trend and everyone has looked to the outskirts of the city to live. Downtown areas have become a place to work, and the suburbs a place to live. Downtowns have become ghost towns during the evenings, while little communal interaction can be found in the suburbs due to its inhuman scale and automobile dependence. Developers have marketed suburban living for their profits, offering no other alternative housing between suburban and urban living cores as they exist today. This thesis will explore an alternative prototypical housing type to promote vitality and livability in urban environments today.