Ponderosa Mobile Home Architecture Studio

Plans drawn by students in the Ponderosa architecture class.
Research Questions
During the spring of 2018, more than 40 CU Boulder students and baby直播app with varied expertise sought solutions for the preservation of Ponderosa Mobile Home Park as it transitioned to a more resilient model of affordable housing. Students and baby直播app analyzed and explored key research questions around affordable housing topics, such as urban ecology, modular building design, community engagement and sustainable social development.  

 

ENVD 3300: Ponderosa Interdisciplinary Praxis Studio
Urban Ecology, Neighborhood Architecture and Community Engagement
Instructor: Neal Evers, AIA, ENVD professor.
Syllabus

  • Regional urban ecological research and analysis;
  • Neighborhood-scale ecological site design based on urban ecology principles and literature;
  • Building-scale design and models based on sustainable, modular and small-home practices
    and precedents;
  • Community outreach presentations tailored to the Ponderosa neighborhood community.

This praxis studio explored how best to address Ponderosa community鈥檚 future ecological, infrastructure and housing challenges. During this studio, students researched and designed ecological landscapes and resilient homes for this neighborhood at scales that are well-suited to tackling these issues. Students informed their design work through the study of literature pertaining to urban and landscape ecology, small/modular homes, sustainable design and community resilience as well as from practice, precedent studies and other resources.  

Participants:
ENVD professors: Neal Evers, AIA; Seth Wilberding, ASLA, LEED-AP.
ENVD students: Jake Archambault, Adam Bunce, Anna Cook, Omar de la Mora, Nihan Efeoglu, Jack Fisher, Jacob George, Alexander Jonah, Isabella Kyster, Rykley Lynch, Sloan Martinez, Jon McGehee, Kiley Naves, Zachary Niro, Scott Rathbone, Aden Rubinson, Emily Sherman, Harrison Smart, Sara Taketatsu, Morgan Taylor, Changan Wang, Taylor Wiens. 

MetroLab 
The Community Engagement Design and Research Center (CEDaR) provides planning and design services, supports educational programs and conducts applied research on problems in the built environment. The CEDaR Center is committed to an interdisciplinary approach to the development of solutions that are socially responsive and ecologically sound. CEDaR serves as a resource center for community engagement, urban management and design in collaboration with baby直播app in the Program in Environmental Design and other entities within and outside of the University of baby直播app Boulder. 

The Community Design Workshop (formerly the CU-City of Boulder Design Workshop) supports students and baby直播app from CU Boulder to work with Boulder city government, neighborhoods and stakeholders on critical urban problems and opportunities. The workshop brings together multi-disciplinary groups from the community and university to share ideas, analysis and recommendations. Our purpose is to advance local discussion about urban design, development and management of the built environment. This project is organized as part of the MetroLab partnership between the city, university and CU Boulder's Community Engagement Design and Research Center. Partners include Growing Up Boulder and CU Boulder's Program in Environmental Design, Environmental Studies Program, Office for Outreach and Engagement, CU Engage and the Masters of the Environment programs.