Fiedler Marciano and Juan Herreros Arquitectos combined efforts for this submittal of ideas to the directors of an invited competition. The proposal reflects a snapshot of the design team’s collective thinking on the themes raised in the competition brief; the construction of affordable green homes. The intent is to pursue an adaptive regional approach towards the issues of sustainable and affordable single-family home design that can be applied to other areas of the country or the world. Our hope is that critical consideration of environmental, societal, economic, and cultural factors within the region will ultimately yield a design solution that is relevant, and grounded in the specifics of its location, while establishing a methodology that can be applied with universal success.

On Syracuse’s Near Westside, this inclusive regional attitude will allow the design to reconsider established land use patterns, to incorporate passive design strategies that respond to the local climate, to make use of building materials, processes and labor resources that are available within the upstate region, to evaluate the specific spatial needs of families on the Near Westside, to pursue simple and efficient home designs that reinterpret and extend regional architectural traditions, and to address the unique economic and social needs of the local community, in order to insure a sustainable future.