A strange “left-over” empty plot of land, owned by the City of Tempe.
A large multi-family development popped up to the West side of this site 10 years ago. Later the city added very large electrical equipment for the Street Car on the east edge of this site. Some in the adjacent Hudson Manor neighborhood want to have Cedar Street (currently along the East side of this site) connect up with Dorsey, which would occur between this site and the large multi-family development.
There is a plan to remove Cedar Street from joining Apache if that happens. In which case the large empty lot on the East side of Cedar could be joined with this lot. Yet that is unlikely as Cedar contains massive infrastructure underground. Therefore it is likely Cedar Street will remain. It is also likely a connection to Dorsey will occur leaving a very small 16,800 SF plot of land, which is slated for fairly high urban density as it is right at the busy Dorsey Light Rail (and Street Car) station.
The plot is too small for a typical dense multi-family development as there is not enough space for parking, structure, and waste. But something should exist there.
One idea is to turn the site into a desert oasis; a respite of nature in a rapidly urbanizing part of town. Or the land could be developed with just three multi-story private urban homes to fill the void. Or it could possibly be a quasi-public area for events.
This proposal aims to combine these three concepts: Three tall houses that leave enough room for parking, structure, and waste needs that gives a healthy amount of land over to Sonoran landscape. In addition, a semi-public square is provided for a myriad of uses.
The garden is raised up five feet above street level everywhere except the north property edge where the garden slopes down to two feet. The houses are raised up eight feet above street level, supported on mass timber columns. The three-foot gap between the homes and garden wall allows the homes to look like they are floating amongst the plants and trees.
The homes are perfect 30-FT cubes and contain three levels. The space below them is used for storage, waste, and autos. The ground-level space between the homes is used for gatherings, play time, projects, etc. The wall at the perimeter of the site creates a fortress for those within and a garden for those outside.
The homes are clad in rusted horizontally arranged corrugated metal, a modern material that marries local agricultural buildings with the look of “the old west” pioneer towns. The cladding contains large-scale artwork created by coLAB studio; from a series of drawings from life of indigenous plants. The graphics and the trees blend and blur into each other, allowing the dark clad homes to fade into background. The architecture’s exterior is secondary to plants and art.
Renderings by Tridi.Cat
Modelled after “M.O. Best Mini-Park” on Roosevelt Row in Phoenix, this space would host permitted events, art shows, live music, or act as outdoor dining to surrounding restaurants.
A private patio is raised above the plaza to provide shade.
The entrance to the homes are along the wood supports and raised garden wall, turning the corner on a concrete plynthe, and up steel stairs to the main living space.
The homes are built of Mass Timber, meaning heavy structural elements made of combining smaller typical framing members. In this case, large forty-foot columns run from foundation to roof, with glue-laminated beams supporting floors and roof. Between the beams are nail-laminated slabs. For shear and lateral support, cross-laminated panels are added at structurally necessary locations. All of these elements are exposed on the interiors, for walls, floor, ceiling, etc.
All interior spaces have natural light; even the areas at the center of the structure.
On the intermediate interior level, the Master Bathroom is centered on the floor plate. Natural sunlight is delivered into the space via a Solar Tube at the shower. The two bathrooms on the third level also have similar “skylights.”
The homes are designed with the main living, working, and sleeping spaces on the south side, the stairs on the north side, and a narrow utility core between them on all four levels.
To keep the building energy efficient and pleasant to live in, the windows are carefully placed to maximize interior daylighting all year, but to eliminate direct sunlight in the hottest six months. Most of the glazing faces south, where fixed solar shades block most of the harshest sun angles. Windows facing West and East are very small and very few. Windows facing north are minimized as the stairs (and a storage space) are placed along that elevation.