FAMILIAR HYBRIDS
By Barbara Weiwen Soo
The thesis is in San Francisco, it is about evolving the housing type, considering its current context and history. Existing rowhouses are strictly demarcated, so we see them as individuals. Whereas the new building expresses the simultaneous readings of the whole and the individual wholes, unified by centralized common areas. Each floor has collective pockets of community within the whole while maintaining its individuality. Also, the hybridization of Vernacular elements creates variation in every house. The idea of the whole and the individual wholes existing simultaneously challenges the current housing type, evolving it without losing the essence of the Vernacular.