-
Architects: Rome Office
- Area: 3768 m²
- Year: 2023
-
Photographs:Leonid Furmansky
-
Manufacturers: Fiandre, Concept Surfaces, James Hardie , Jeld Wen , NICHIHA, Nora, Tarkett
Text description provided by the architects. As the first development in Morgan City to offer affordable housing for seniors in over a decade, this project encourages the comfortable transition to communal living by creating a centralized, shared courtyard within which residents circulate and congregate. Articulated unit entries support wayfinding for aging residents and double exposure to natural light creates dynamic spaces within. Familiar materials and textures define stacked volumes that hinge to cover and shade the main entry and exterior walkways.
Morgan City, Louisiana is a small coastal city at the tail-end of the Atchafalaya River delta that has historically relied on petroleum and fishing industries to support its population of 11,000. The per capita income hovers just below $25,000, and median household income just above $40,000. As a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) project, this multi-family building is the first low-income senior housing built in Morgan City in over a decade.
The design breaks apart the double-loaded corridor parti associated with traditional apartment building circulation, bringing light and communal programming into the residual space. Focusing social programming at the inflection point, the building hinges open to envelop a vibrant courtyard space to be shared by residents for socializing, recreation, and gardening. The courtyard opens onto the main access street - a welcoming posture for a large building to take within the neighborhood, and a reversal of the (often-hidden) courtyard typology. Pushing the main entry deeper into the oversized lot helps to activate the entire site.
In what would be impossible for corridors buried inside a traditional apartment complex, both residential levels are made visible simultaneously, visually activating the space as residents access their dwellings while providing equitable connections to the community's shared courtyard amenity. Rainwater collection is celebrated and takes the place of a costly irrigation system through the design of a custom conductor head and scupper at the entryway and leaders which direct water from the broad roof to the low-maintenance native plantings below.
By dividing the building in half and shifting all circulation to the exterior, the single-loaded circulation allows for double-sided units that provide the residents with dynamic natural light into both their living rooms and bedrooms. The sawtooth facades lining the courtyard create a thickened threshold between public and private spaces, providing small niches at entry doors for residents to claim by placing doormats or other personal mementos. The sawtooth configuration also allows for signage to be clearly visible to support wayfinding for an aging population.
Designing the exterior walls with rainscreens of varying depths brings the large mass down to a more domestic scale, giving the perception of 3 stacked volumes. The tiers are calibrated to achieve a balance in proportion and material efficiency to avoid horizontal seams and minimize cuts in the field. Through subtle gradations of color and texture, a uniform yet dynamic facade is created using one of the most prolific products and construction methods on the market: board and batten fiber cement panels.
