CPID Micro-Housing Designs for Houseless Portlanders
Project Origin
In response to a declared state of emergency on homelessness in Portland, the CPID began working with partners in the Village Coalition on the The Partners On Dwelling (POD) Initiative. The POD Initiative recognizes that: a) informal “villages” being established by the houseless themselves were finding incredible success in creating vibrant, safe, supportive, and self-governing communities and could serve as a replicable model; b) Design is an unmet need that has a significant role to play to aid these efforts and those of the Village Coalition; c) Initiatives to change perceptions about homelessness among Portlanders would be essential for the success of any effort that integrated houseless individuals into Portland’s central city fabric. The POD Initiative aims to activate Portland’s design community to address homelessness.
The POD Initiative asks the architecture and design community to apply their skills and experience in shaping the built environment toward housing Portland’s most vulnerable population- the homeless. Following a community charrette with over one hundred stakeholders in attendance including people with lived experience with houselessness, designers formed teams to design and build prototypes for pods. Fourteen teams were formed, consisting of some of the leading architecture firms in Portland and three from the Center for Public Interest Design.
Project Description
In addition to organizing the POD Initiative with partners in the Village Coalition like City Repair, the CPID was involved in the design and construction of three pods. Sleeping pods are categorized by the city as structures with a footprint of between 6’x8’ and 8’x12’, and as tall as 10’6”. Additional requirements for structural stability, insulation, and windows/doors are similar to those of ADUs and other structures, but they rely on a village model with shared bathroom and cooking facilities.
Each pod provided opportunities to explore different issues and design strategies, from size and construction methods to material investigations and different sustainability approaches. The Cocoon Pod (8’x8’) explored opportunities for material recovery and reuse through an exploratory process based on various stages of shelter. The Trot Pod (8’x12’) is a pod resulting from an architecture studio that engaged a range of stakeholders and issues in the design process. The NW Pod (6’x8’) worked with partners from Neighborhood Works Realty to explore issues of flexibility, modularity, and material efficiency for a pod that can be built extremely quickly.
The Pop-Out Pod was built following a post-occupancy evaluation period of the first set of pods, which were used at the Kenton Women’s Village.
Below you can read more about each pod in detail.
Location
Portland, Oregon, United States
Partners
Village Coalition City Repair
Communitecture Open Architecture ReBuilding Center Portland Mayor's Office The Larson Legacy
To read more about the Partners On Dwelling (POD) Initiative, please visit: www.centerforpublicinterestdesign.org/partners-on-dwelling-pod-initiative
THE POP-OUT POD
The original Pop-Out Pod was designed and built by Todd Ferry’s 2017 Arch 480 studio. These students conducted research and interviews to understand how existing pods were performing at Kenton Women’s Village and in other villages to determine how to make an ideal sleeping pod based on best practices. The pod that they developed was rooted in the qualities of comfort, storage, performance, and beauty. Pop-outs help break the feeling of being in a box, a crucial factor in such a small space. The pop-outs also provide important storage lacking in most other pod designs. Warmth and comfort were significant design drivers, so the pod uses 2x6 walls and 2x8 rafters for increased insulation when a heat source is unavailable (with 2x4 and radiant heating panels preferred). The design calls for an operable windows in the door, a fixed vertical window on the tall wall, and at least one large operable window within one of the pop-outs for ideal light and ventilation. The pod features a small covered porch, with recommendations for extending the porch with detached stairs that double as seating space. To promote a sense of separate space and to maximize room within the pod, much of the bed (twin bed size) is tucked into a nook created next to the porch. Finally, the original prototype built by students features a 3” C-Channel all the way around to accommodate straps used by forklifts during the moving of the pod to prevent damage. This pod has been replicated over 27 times, and is featured at the Kenton Women’s Village 2.0 and the Clackamas County Veterans Village. Additionally, the St. Johns Village which opened in 2021, utilized the Pop-Out Pod design as the sleeping pod for all 19 of the village’s units.
THE TROT POD
The Trot Pod was designed by fifteen PSU Architecture students in their penultimate undergraduate studio in the fall of 2016. The studio taught by Todd Ferry aimed to study Portland through the lens of a houseless Portlander. Students researched and mapped topics related to homelessness such as urban amenities and resources, village precedents, city laws and codes, and root causes of homelessness. Every student then created an individual design for a pod and village before working together on a collective design proposal. As part of the studio process, students interacted with a range of stakeholders from the Mayor of Portland to people with lived experience with houselessness that consulted on the designs.
Responding to desires and issues that were discussed in a design charrette with houseless individuals and advocates, students settled on a design that aimed to include details such as a thoughtful division of space, storage systems, an abundance of light, multiple operable windows, and a porch. The design echoes the icon of a house with a gable roof, which is clad in black standing seam metal that wraps down along the walls as well. A translucent white polycarbonate window and skylight create a strip of diffused light in the pod that brightens both the bed area and table/desk nook. Copper piping and reclaimed wood interact to create shelves, table tops, hanging racks, and a foot rest. The pod takes advantage of the largest allowable footprint (8’x12’), which includes a 4’x4’ porch.
The pod gets its name from both the studio’s proposed site for a village and concepts related to their aggregation and expansion. The pod is designed to work well independently, but also to work in a pair with a shared porch similar to a typology known as a dogtrot. Two neighbors could share the porch, or the pods could be connected to accommodate a family. The Trot Pod has been used at the Kenton Women’s Village from 2017 to present.
COCOON POD [SHELTER TO DWELLING]
Led by Visiting CPID Faculty Fellow Dr. Pedro Pacheco, the Cocoon Pod team explored a range of issues including various stages of shelter, the ability to expand, and material reuse. The team sought to reflect the values of the Center for Public Interest Design: to turn research into action to address social, economic, and environmental concerns while serving underserved populations.
The Cocoon Pod emphasizes the by-products from industrial processes, such as reclaimed wood, straw insulation, and salvaged plywood. Approximately 20% of Portland’s waste in landfills comes from building construction and demolition, and this prototype responds to that reality. To that end, the most striking feature of the pod is a full window wall made of discarded glass cabinet doors attached to a tree-like frame. As an additional layer of insulation and customization, a local quilting group created a customized quilt to cover the glass wall when desired. The quilt echoes traditional ceremonies of welcoming a newcomer into a community. We would love to see the larger community that hosts a village craft a quilt for each pod.
The Cocoon Pod derives its name from team concepts into how the structure might begin as a small unit to provide immediate shelter and expand over time for longer-term residence. The roof is hinged to be able to open for vertical expansion in the future, while still remaining low enough for transport in its lowered position. The pod is 8’x8’, with a 4’x8’ covered porch. The Cocoon Pod was in use at the Kenton Women’s Village from 2017-2018.
NW POD
The Center for Public Interest Design partnered with Neighborhood Works Realty on the creation of a third pod that explored issues of flexibility, modularity, material efficiency, and customization options. By necessity, it was also designed to be a prototype that could be built quickly, as the team assembled just one week before the pod needed to be completed in order to fill in for a team that was not able to build a pod as planned at the last minute. Fortunately, the Neighborhood Works Realty team led Bob and Jarrett Altman stepped up to ensure that more Portlanders would be sheltered.
The NW Pod explores the smallest allowable footprint for a pod at 6’x8’, with an independent 4’x6’ deck. Community partners are interested in exploring opportunities for this size due to the ease of transporting them and the possibilities for occupying a variety of potential village sites. Additionally, this size would allow local religious and nonprofit organizations to host clusters of pods in their parking lots without obstructing circulation.
The design relies on dimensions that maximize materials and simplify construction:
Walls and roofs accommodate full sheets of plywood and metal siding under the clerestory without the need to make cuts
Metal siding wraps corners to eliminate the need for cuts and takes full advantage of the material dimension
12-foot 2’x8’ rafters allow for better insulation and use the lumber’s full length
Full 12-foot sheets of metal are used for the roofing
Double-wall polycarbonate is used for clerestory, strip, and operable door windows, illuminating the structure and eliminating several steps in the window framing process.
Durable interlocking rubber floor tiles are utilized for an easy to install floor that provides a soft surface for potential visitors sleeping over
With such a small footprint, the interior was designed to maximize flexibility and usage. Bob Altman and PSU student Brennan Aitken-Gantz took a proposal for flexible interior space and designed a light-weight system of hinged torsion boxes for both the bed and table/privacy screen. The bed folds under a fixed shelf and rests on two square storage stools that pivot open. An assortment of pegs both support the table and provide hanging storage throughout to pod.
The NW Pod served as a sleeping pod at the Kenton Women’s Village from 2017-2018 but proved too small of a design. It is now serving as a space for peer mentoring / one-on-one counseling.