Architecture and “The American Dream” have been neglected by America’s suburban neighborhoods leaving suburbia with an over abundance of houses, cars, and strip malls. Suburbia was once a place where families could obtain “The American Dream” and live minutes from the city. Today, suburban neighborhoods have created a large gap between the public and the city becoming merely a buffer spaces between major cities. In result, suburbia has lost its urban identity and connection to the city. Lately, suburban living has been associated by cost vs. location; the further away you live from the city the less expensive it is to reside, causing people to live further away from the city. As a remedy to urban sprawl, retrofit along with adaptive reuse needs to take place, creating hybrid urban communities.
Questions:
1. How to bring back urban living to an uncontrollable suburbia?
2. What can be proposed to conserve land and reduce the amount of sprawl?
3. How to fill the gaps left behind by urban sprawl and bond suburbia to the city?
Objectives:
• To design an urban archetype that can serve as an example of retrofitting suburbia.
• To reduce the spread of urban sprawl by retrofitting abandoned and underutilized structures for dwelling, working, and social activities.
• To reduce the dependence of cars in modern day suburbia and create a walkable community.
Purpose:
• To meet the needs of modern day people and redefine “The American Dream”.
• To stop the spread of urban sprawl and reduce emissions and energy consumption.
• To find a new purpose for the strip malls and the factories suburbia abandoned.
Process/Program:
• Study the typology of suburbia
• Study the urban fabric of Tampa, Florida and its suburbs
