Tabb’s students design mixed-use development for College Station

First-year environmental design students at Texas A&M designed a high-density, mixed-use housing cluster with “green” elements for a theoretical site in College Station during a spring 2011 studio led by Phillip Tabb, professor of architecture.

“Part of the problem was to design an effective live/work unit and the other part was to use urban design principles, or to respond to the context in which their project was placed,” said Tabb.

Students designed three-story buildings with a ground-level shop, an apartment on the upper two levels topped by a roof garden with a small greenhouse.

They were also asked to provide an outdoor space with a minimum of 100 square feet accessible from the apartment.

“Their designs were to take advantage of natural breezes, sun protection and one eight-foot by eight-foot solar collector for hot-water heating,” said Tabb. “Each dwelling unit had to have a one-car garage of approximately 200 square-feet accessed from an alley.”

Students constructed models of their designs and placed them together on a common base.

“The project focused on place patterns and the ways in which they are activated within the context of an urban fabric,” said Tabb.