Despite an overwhelming amount of evidence of the absence of housing equity in Ithaca, so many people still lack a home. What does it mean to have home?

This project counteracts this takeover by inhabiting Cornell land for the dual purpose of accommodating more Cornell students as well as Ithacans. I propose a typology– a vocabulary of forms– that can be accommodating to the different types of waiting. By providing for the residents’ need for a home + an additional need, residents can be freed from the worries of establishing a healthy home and can focus on their personal goals. This housing project will be a sanctuary that will provide its residents waiting for housing in Ithaca– no matter for how long-- a chance to encounter themselves through the non-act of waiting. 

 

In this housing, the architecture will provide a chance for engagement and communication. Residents can choose to be alone or together. The structures will also provide interior spaces to relax, to interact, or to simply not have to wait aimlessly. The entanglement of several resident pairs within one space will leave an imprint of past wait-ers as well as the memory of what they were waiting for.