Conservation Co-Housing

Conservation Co-Housing is a study of how urban apartment life can be improved, by examining the typologies of suburban living that makes it so appealing to young families. Through this approach, the building works to create levels of public and private spaces for tenants, and activates common and circulatory spaces, increasing tenant interaction to promote the development of community within the building. Making a style of urban life that brings in these families and helps reduce sprawl. One key issue with urbanism has to do with over-development and lack of truly natural spaces, conservation co-housing acts as a precedent for how urban housing can be both high-density, and maintain green spaces for environmental, community and tenant health.

Recent data shows a ~30% decline in migratory bird populations since 1970, Galt sits in a large area of high importance, with both significant traffic and decline. Urbanism is a major factor in this loss of life, and therefore has substantial opportunity for improvement

The sprawl and urbanism mapping of Galt shows how much of Cambridge is suburban, and how development is continuing this trend. This makes Galt both somewhere that desperately needs urban development while having the opportunity to change the way urbanism is approached.

The building engages tenants in ecological and community stewardship through it’s main floor, with tenants participating in interior social programming as well as in generating and maintaining outdoor ecological programming. 

The building's interior uses similar typologies to generate units and engage hallways like residential streets. Promoting social interaction in halls with units ‘front yards’ extending off them and a series of large light wells running along them to bring life to what are usually sad dark spaces amongst apartment complexes.

The building uses suburban typologies to generate the relationships between public, private and outdoor space. Giving the building a front yard for entry and a backyard for activity and nature.

The building tries to make use of natural light whenever possible, and utilizes good artificial lighting practices where and when natural lighting is insufficient.