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The Committee on Design (COD) was founded to promote design excellence among members of the AIA, the broader design community, and the public at large, both nationally and internationally.

2024 COD Conferences

Arkansas

April 3-7 | 21c Hotel | Bentonville and Eureka Springs - Registration is sold out.

Brazil

Thu, Oct 17 - Sat, Oct 26, 2024
Sao Paulo > Brasilia > Rio de Janerio.  Registration will open in late April.

2024 Sponsorships

Download the prospectus for Arkansas and Brazil opportunities.


2023 COD Conferences

Last year, COD held two domestic design conferences investigating The Authenticity of Place.  The first conference was held in New Orleans, LA.  View the short video of the venue tours and download the conference program book. The second conference was held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, September 21-24, 2023. Download the Minneapolis guidebook and view the conference video

  • 1.  Tiny Houses as a solution to the affordable housing crisis.

    Posted 03-24-2015 07:43 PM
    This message has been cross posted to the following Discussion Forums: Committee on Design and Housing Knowledge Community .
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    Hello,

    I am a residential architect living in a solar-powered Airstream Tiny House.  Here in California, we are experiencing a housing boom that is completely unaffordable for most of the middle class.  I see the Tiny House movement as one possible solution for this issue. Even though the State of California requires a percentage of "affordable" housing units in every county and city, state and local laws and regulations are in conflict with each other and prevent counting Tiny Houses as affordable housing.  This indirectly prevents the creation of affordable Tiny House Villages.  Local cities and counties have their own prejudices with regard to "affordable housing" and are discriminating against the acceptance and creation of any solution related to this model.  I am seeking support though the AIA to identify, confront and resolve this pattern of discrimination so that we can have access to as many solutions to the affordable housing crisis as possible.  Please contact me if you can refer me to others working on this issue, either privately, locally on on the state level.

    Thanks,



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    David Ludwig
    Sausalito CA
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West


  • 2.  RE: Tiny Houses as a solution to the affordable housing crisis.

    Posted 03-25-2015 05:45 PM
    Here in Portland the government recently contracted with a company to design and build tiny houses to help house the homeless population. I believe there are other similar initiatives in other cities across the country. 

    Portland also has been promoting ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units, or granny flats), as a way to diversify the housing stock and provide more affordable housing options without disrupting the residential neighborhood fabrics. My firm - Propel Studio - actually has carved out a niche in the ADU design market. We have 4-5 ADUs about to start construction. Many of our clients are building them in order to downsize their lifestyles and then rent out their main houses. This is a great way for them to be more financially stable, earning revenue off the rental of the main house. 

    The city has actually waived many of the permitting fees for these ADUs, at least until mid-2016. 

    However, unfortunately they have a very restrictive ADU zoning code the drastically limits the design of these buildings and forces people to make the ADUs look like the main house regardless of what the client wants, what the quality of the main house is, or if the ADU is even visible from the street. It is an unfortunate zoning code and something many people are actively pushing for change. 

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    Lucas Gray Assoc. AIA
    Owner
    Propel Studio Architecture
    Portland OR
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    2024 HRC Taliesin West