Community and High-Density Housing: An Architecture of Social Capital

Abstract

This thesis examines community development at high-densities in Vancouver, British Columbia. It understands community development through the lens of bridging and bonding social capital and their related social network structures. It develops architectural strategies to encourage community, and then applies these strategies to the design of a high-density, mixed-use residential building. Extended family housing is employed programmatically as both an architectural strategy to encourage diversity, and to examine more complex communities at a domestic scale. It takes the critical position that bonding social capital, while important to community development, is over-emphasized in relation to bridging social capital. The design seeks to more effectively balance these types of social capital. It uses a modified public courtyard typology, large circulation atrium and accessible rooftop overlaid with multiple programmatic elements, careful attention to thresholds, and a variety of flexible unit types and sizes to address this imbalance between bridging and bonding social capital.