Projects

2023 Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design: Randy Crandon and Maddie Farrer

A depiction of an architectural model the features an array of small, uniform white structures with bright blue roofs arranged together on narrow alleys. Some structures are raided on plinth structures.

A field of housing blankets four vacant office buildings.

Sidewalk Stuff: Adaptive Reuse Cohousing

by Randy Crandon (MArch I ’25) and Maddie Farrer (MArch I ’25)

This cooperative housing proposal challenges the illusion of self-sufficient private accumulation by promoting material sharing on an infrastructural scale, redirecting waste streams, and fostering a circular economy. It acknowledges the typologies of suburban sprawl, such as the American suburban home and office park building, which have shaped domesticity and comfort.

The site features four vacant office buildings surrounded by parking lots and adjacent homes. Characters representing American domesticity and comfort were identified as:  1. The Self Storage Warehouse, 2. The Scrap and Salvage yard, 3. The Big Box Store, and 4. The Distribution Center. Each office building is recast as one of these characters, inheriting plan and infrastructural logistics. Within these satellite collectives, informal markets, like online buy-nothing groups, extend the lifespan of goods and promote communal wealth.

Urbanistically, a field strategy is employed where row houses fill the spaces between buildings to intensify density while maintaining suburban tropes. Residential units are modular, modest, and light – manufactured on-site in a variety of configurations for varying family structures. By reframing domestic life through shared goods, American consumerism is slowed, reordered, and contained. This approach prevents material and energy over-consumption while cultivating invaluable human relationships and purpose.

An architectural plan for a housing project that features many small residential units arranged in rows around large office structures and big box stores.
First Floor Site Plan
A photograph taken from a high angle showing an architectural model sitting on saw horses.
Public Flea Market and Units Model
A series of three digital renderings of a large, open building interior featuring hand trucks, shelves, and an assortment of colorful objects.
A rendering of the Distribution Center (L), the Big Box Store (Center), and Scrap and Salvage (R).
A pair of architectural plans for a multi-unit housing project.
Enlarged Unit Plan. The figure on the right depicts shared assets in green and private spaces in blue.
A series of three digital renderings of structures including a domestic space exterior, a construction site, and a domestic interior enclosed by sliding glass doors.
The unit exterior (L); Light, stick frame construction (Center); and Unit Interior (R).
Two digital renderings that show side elevations of a large rectangular building with a parking lot in the foreground.
The suburban garage door, inverted (L) and Creature-like and spiked when doors closed (R).
A photograph of an architectural model that shows a large structure surrounded by numerous small uniform structures that have similar sloped roofs on one side.
Artificial ground planes, stacked
A rendering of the large open interior with an atrium three stories high in which sit various objects including a piano, a basketball hoop, chairs, etc.
Cul-de-Sac Public Flea Market

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