One large problem in the United States is the lack of quality middle income housing. Architectural collages without care or any notion of urbanism,spatially chaotic, sustainably negligent, all seemingly the result of poortrade coordination and an adherence to Revit families. In 301 Vanilla, a prototype project for a series of prefabricated, mass timber low-rise housing stands against all of the aforementioned problems in the American housing stock. The goal of the project is to provide a better quality of housing, both sustainably and architecturally to the middle class. A task easier said than done within the cost, code, and craft of the US.

In order to achieve a sense of architectural unity, the project was first conceived as a modular grid, a 12’ X 12’ plan of squares, which can be programmed and divided in a seemingly limitless number of ways. From fullmodule kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms, to half or one third modules of storage, mechanical equipment, washer/dryer, smaller bathrooms, home offices, etc. The list can go on and on. From this prefabricated set of modules, the construction becomes a game of Tetris stacking, using prefabricated stud walls as infill, and CLT panels as the structural membrane of the project. In this way, the building can be erected with speed and ease of assembly, allowing the exterior façade to then be customizable. In trying to meet Passive House goals for the envelope, the building becomes a carbon sink and energy efficient in its mitigation of heat loss.

The aim of this prototype is to prove this concept for a model of middle-income housing that can serve to add quality architecture into the US stock, a utopic vision that stretches like the Jeffersonian Grid across the country. It becomes a vision for a contemporary America that addresses the lack of urbanity that new cities demand and a sustainability that is a prerequisite for future housing.