The studio will explore housing as an ecology of care, a framework that understands architecture not as an isolated product but as a relational practice embedded in networks of interdependence among people, species, systems, and time. In this view, a multi-story residential building is not only a place to live, but a place to heal, connect, and coexist for both human and nonhuman life.

To engage housing through this lens, we will begin by transforming an existing Parisian office building characterized by a concrete frame, central core, deep floor plates, limited daylight, and sealed facades. Working within these constraints, the studio will develop housing for 150 people, living individually or together, that responds creatively to the building’s conditions while caring for each other, the city, and the planet. Your design work will range from building-scale interventions to the spatial and material details that support collective life. We will approach this work through four overlapping and interdependent domains of care:
– Historical care centers on preserving and reinterpreting the history embedded in the existing building, including its structure, materials, and spatial patterns, so that past labor and use inform and enrich future dwellings. We will explore how these architectural traces can reduce the environmental cost of construction while giving the project a distinct character and connection to its history.
– Planetary care positions housing within broader systems of climate, ecology, and interspecies interdependence. We will explore how a residential building can contribute to the health of the planet while supporting biodiversity and nonhuman life at the scale of the city. This might include, for example, strategies such as green roofs, vertical gardens, or microhabitats that connect architecture to planetary cycles and promote coexistence across species.
– Social care positions housing as a space for inclusion, mutual support, and interdependence. You will consider how a residential building can accommodate a wide range of household structures, including single individuals, multigenerational families, co-living arrangements, and live-work collectives. This might include shared infrastructure such as communal kitchens, childcare spaces, or rooftop gardens.
– Temporal care views housing as adaptable and built to last. We will explore how a residential building can change over time to meet residents’ needs, using flexible layouts and durable materials that are easy to maintain. We will also consider how residents can work together to care for their home and community over the long term.

Together, these approaches will guide your proposals for a new kind of housing that is rooted in care, shaped by context, and designed to meet the environmental and social challenges of urban life today and in the future.

Professor Hanif Kara will collaborate with the studio during weeks 1 and 2, when the studio will be addressing Adaptive Reuse.

In October, we will take a two day studio trip to Manitoga and Dia Beacon in the Hudson Valley. These sites will offer two perspectives on transformation and care: one grounded in ecological restoration, the other in adaptive reuse. Together, they will support the studio’s broader inquiry into how architecture can respond to change and sustain life over time.

Offered in parallel with the seminar Housing Matters, students are encouraged to enroll in both, as the seminar provides research for the design work. Phillip Denny, Teaching Associate, will be present on alternate weeks when Professor Moussavi teaches remotely. See the course syllabus for details.