In the summer of 2011, a team of five undergraduate architecture students from the University of Virginia worked with a graduate student mentor and faculty advisor under an innovative design-build program, Initiative reCOVER. The team worked with a non-profit community partner, the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless (TJACH), on addressing the lack of shelter available to homeless people in Charlottesville, Virginia. The efforts of the summer involved research into a number of related areas, which coalesced in the design of a unique approach to housing the homeless. The pedagogy of Initiative reCOVER, paired with TJACH’s expert knowledge and creative approach to homelessness, aided the team in its efforts to produce an environmentally conscious and socially supportive design. The design proposal exhibits a novel prototype in the field of supportive housing and is a tool for spreading local awareness of the issues underlying homelessness.
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