Plugin Housing
Image courtesy of PAO, copyright ZHAN Changheng
Image courtesy of PAO
Image courtesy of PAO
‘Plugin Housing’ is an exploration of bricolage within the realm of housing policy. Part manifesto, part user’s manual, part graphic novel, and part critical dialogue, this book presents a vision for a modular prefabricated architecture designed to address housing crises across diverse localities and populations. From transitional housing communities in the US to fragile, historic neighborhoods in China’s inner cities, it investigates built projects, historical legacies, policy experiments, and the lived experiences of inhabitants. ‘Plugin Housing’ offers compelling arguments and speculative scenarios for an ad hoc architecture that resists systemic inequality. It demonstrates how the modest act of incrementally “plugging into” existing conditions can bring about social change through architecture-as-product.
‘Plugin Housing’ is an exploration of bricolage within the realm of housing policy. Part manifesto, part user’s manual, part graphic novel, and part critical dialogue, this book presents a vision for a modular prefabricated architecture designed to address housing crises across diverse localities and populations. From transitional housing communities in the US to fragile, historic neighborhoods in China’s inner cities, it investigates built projects, historical legacies, policy experiments, and the lived experiences of inhabitants. ‘Plugin Housing’ offers compelling arguments and speculative scenarios for an ad hoc architecture that resists systemic inequality. It demonstrates how the modest act of incrementally “plugging into” existing conditions can bring about social change through architecture-as-product.
- 2024
- Grantee: PAO
PAO is an international practice with offices in Los Angeles, Beijing and Shenzhen. Founded in 2010 by James Shen, He Zhe, and Zang Feng, the firm is a multi-disciplinary art and design practice focused on work that fosters social interaction and diverse perspectives. Domus named PAO as one of the world’s best architecture firms of 2019 and Fast Company listed PAO as one of the world’s ten most innovative architecture companies in 2018. The studio’s award-winning works have been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Design Society and the London Design Museum. In 2020 PAO spun off the Plugin House Company to specialize in developing low-cost prefabricated homes as products.