Jeff Jordan Architects’ Co-Generational Housing Design Wins First Place at 2019 HOME Competition

Jeff Jordan Architects won first place in the "Pragmatic" Category in the 2019 HOME Competition, which recognizes the best domestic architecture ideas for the future. 

HOME creates a platform to speculate the ways new technological, political, environmental and cultural changes can redefine the spaces in which we live. Contestants consider the impact of global population shifts, new materials and building techniques, as well as the rise of co-housing, tiny homes and smart houses.

Jeff Jordan Architect’s winning project is a proposed co-generational housing and day care solution that would transform abandoned big-box structures in New Jersey. The “Alpha Boom Co-Housing” proposal aims to accommodate significant changes in suburban structures and population.

First, the shift from traditional “big box” retail to online retail leaves behind large abandoned buildings and oversized parking lots. The project proposes a reuse and adaptation of these defunct structures to accommodate the second shift, an aging population. As a large portion of the populace enters their golden years and balks at the idea of traditional senior living typologies, the aging retail fabric could be appropriated to accommodate seniors who would otherwise have to leave their communities.

The project proposes a hybrid senior housing community and day care for young children in place of an abandoned department store in New Jersey. The hybrid strategy aims to create diverse energy levels and activities throughout the complex in order to benefit both populations. Activities in and around the housing complex could mix the two communities together in both planned and chance encounters.

The combined senior housing and day care community is largely enclosed by the existing structure; however, the design carves out and pushes through portions of the original building to create a porous series of indoor-outdoor spaces and courtyards. Modest housing units are located on the first level and supplemented with cooperative amenities like a kitchen, lounges and gardens. 

The second level incorporates the day care and stretches across the length of the structure. Double height zones merge the amenity spaces of the older residents below with the classroom spaces of the young children above, creating truly shared, inter-generational links.

More information on all the winning schemes can be found here: https://www.thehomecompetition.com/2019-results.html.

About Jeff Jordan Architects

Jeff Jordan Architects LLC is a full-service architecture practice focused on design excellence and project execution. Projects range in scale from modest interior remodels to complex new buildings and in location from the city to the countryside. Jeff Jordan’s work is characterized by conceptual innovation, a commitment to sustainability, a strong understanding of the construction process and attention to detail. The firm engages in a multi-disciplinary approach involving close collaboration with not only its clients, but also other designers, engineers, fabricators and builders to achieve the greatest possible results. Jeff Jordan’s extensive construction experience gives the company unique insight into the building process while allowing it to best represent its clients’ interests. Every project is seen as an opportunity to provide dynamic and uplifting responses to the nuances of the site, program and client.