WALL HOUSE

Location: Hatch, NM

University of Oregon

Just outside of the rural farming town of Hatch lies a small, informal community of immigrant and migrant workers call El Milagro. The residents face a severe health and housing crisis that is accentuated by lack of common municipal services such as water, sewage, garbage and road maintenance. As the typical resources aren’t available to residents, growth and expansion often happens in phases over long periods of time. This project proposes a sustainable, locally sourced methodology for deploying growth and expansion of individual homes and properties, as well as overall community design and connectivity, throughout El Milagro. By using a set of carefully oriented compressed earth wall as an initial framework, a family can build upon them incrementally and ultimately base their expansion on the formation of central courtyard spaces while maximizing thermal mass and potential for future growth. This methodology allows for continual personalization and expansion as new family members move in or a property is subdivided. Building upon these patterns encourages the growth of healthier and more pleasant dwellings, evolving family and community life so that ultimately residents may focus their energies on the bigger issues which affect them.