First-year graduate students at the Yale School of Architecture are tasked with designing and building a structure to help combat homelessness in New Haven, Connecticut.

For this year’s program, called the Jim Vlock Building Project, the school partnered with local non-profit Columbus House, an organization that serves the homeless population in the area, to create a 1,000-square-foot, prefab home for people in the community that are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless.

The bright, clean-lined home sits on a narrow site in the neighborhood of Upper Hill and features a standard silhouette of a gabled roof with deep overhangs and boxy dormer windows: one on the street-facing side, and two on the other. Large boxy windows are also found on the facade of the home, allowing for ample light to get through and offering a place to sit. The roof is also notable for having a slanted long edge.

Clad in light cedar, the two-story structure accommodates a studio on the first floor, as well as a two-bedroom apartment that extends across both floors. A breezeway separates the two units on the ground floor. Inside, the walls are white, the floors are either concrete or hardwood wood, and plenty of built-in plywood storage is found throughout.

Prefabricated elements include walls, roof panels, flooring, and bay windows, all made on Yale campus. Columbus House will select an individual for the studio and a small family for the apartment and will help cover a portion of the rent. Head to Dezeen to learn more.

Via: Dezeen