Sheep in Wolves Clothing: Designing Safe Housing and Collective Support Systems for Immigrant Communities | Bachelors Design Project

Site Context

Set in the Rust Belt city of Syracuse, the I-81 highway has long torn and displaced minority communities. As the urban infrastructure ages, the highway is set to be taken down. In its place, a community grid and pedestrian walk is set to take shape where I-81 once divided. The project, itself, is a direct response to the highway demolition, as well as the discrimination against refugees in America. Large numbers of immigrants have faced mass arrest and deportation without judicial processing. As a support housing, the architecture acts as a sanctuary once again for Syracuse’s refugee city.

Design Process

The design began with a charrette using physical models, each exploring variations of the perimeter block concept. Sketches were then used to develop and clarify different design strategies as well as their detailed implementation. Orthographic drawings followed, offering a top-down understanding of the project.

However, the most significant evolution came through the making and selection of collages. Rather than generating collages from a completed digital model, the process was reversed, and the model itself was refined based on carefully chosen collage perspectives. This inverted workflow shifts the project’s emphasis away from external form, placing greater focus on the social dynamics and lived experiences of its inhabitants.

Final Outcome

The name, a play on fables, suggests the external skin is defensive with a softer communal core. The units themselves represent this social gradient, with the external façade skin serving as a private winter garden. Moving inward becomes a semi-public amenity space. Instead of the typical living room facing inward, every resident has an island counter-top living room that faces the courtyard.

The interface allows opportunities for an integrated neighborhood watch, conversation sharing, and a chance for an informal bartering system. Each floor is equipped with a communal kitchen and cafeteria where members of the community are able to pool resources to share a meal. The ground floor acts as a geometric infrastructure, structurally and socially uplifting the community.

Consisting of a language center, bureaucratic office, health center, and cultural lecture hall, the ground floor provides different support immigrants need to integrate into America. When a support system discriminates between citizens, it’s more critical than ever for safe living, safe housing, safe haven, safe space.

Conclusion: Ultimately, this project redefines housing as a protective, community-driven system that fosters safety, resource sharing, and social integration, transforming architecture into a sanctuary that empowers residents while responding to displacement, discrimination, and urban fragmentation.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]