MiCASiTA Update

Along with Enterprise Green Communities and cdcb | come dream. come build., [bc] has been at work refining core module options for MiCASiTA, our innovative grow-home model that allows families to purchase a home that is designed to grow as their family and finances do. 

Over the last few months, our team has gotten together for several report and design charrette meetings to review required and optional categories for Enterprise Green Communities Certification. This certification allows us to act on an integrative design process and set specific goals. The criteria checklist is a useful guide as we design the MiCASiTA grow-home model and seek to tap into economic, health, and environmental benefits.

Each MiCASiTA module will come prefabricated and will feature a main array of amenities and necessities. For example, our “Smart Box” options include a KITCHEN + BATHROOM + LAUNDRY or BEDROOM + LIVING ROOM. These two core options will then create our main starting point to the MiCASiTA grow home model. After the initial core is created and placed onsite for the family to move into, separate modules that can be added onto the home over time may feature an “Office Box” that has a BEDROOM + OFFICE + BATHROOM, a “Kids Box” featuring 2 BEDROOM + BATHROOM, or a “Flex Box” with GARDEN / GARAGE / STORAGE.

The graphic below represents the L core diagram, with the two “Smart Boxes” coming together to illustrate the process of the grow-home model. The top shows Gable Roof and the bottom shows a Shed Roof.

Our next steps as the design team are to come up with a thoughtful façade design and wrap up to begin the permitting process.

Core massing option graphic by Oscar Olvera.

Jackson Street Cottages

The Jackson Street Cottages are located at the intersection of E Jackson and 16th Street in Brownsville, Texas. After being held by the same owner for decades, the residences went on the market in 2020 and  were at risk of being purchased by a commercial buyer.

In an effort to preserve rental units close to downtown and to maintain the historic character of the development, the City of Brownsville approached [bc]’s partner, come dream. come build. cdcb, to request that they purchase the property to save it from being demolished and converted into commercial use. cdcb agreed and has brought [bc] on as lead architect.

There are three buildings on the property, with five units total. All units are in a deteriorated condition, both interior and exterior. Two of the buildings are historically significant. The project will involve rehabilitating the historic doors, windows, and siding for 2 structures on Lot 1, which are on the list of Texas Historic Sites. The two contributing structures are at  1026-1030 E Jackson St in Brownsville.  

Records show that the buildings were located on site between 1930 and 1957. The vernacular building is a contributing structure and provides historic character and a sense of place to the immediate surrounding thanks to its location on the corner.

We are set to break ground in March 2021. Look out for more updates from this exciting project!

MiCASiTA Wins Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge

We are excited to announce that cdcb | come dream. come build. and [bc] are among the 6 winning teams for the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge from Enterprise and Wells Fargo. With this award, our team will have $2.5 million to expand our innovative solution for rural homeownership, MiCASiTA, from 2020 to 2022.

ABOUT MiCASiTA

Affordable housing is too often synonymous with a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to offer any real choices for families most in need. MiCASiTA allows residents and community members to make decisions about each housing development – cultivating agency and control that yields power.

MiCASiTA is a unique off-the-shelf environmentally sustainable, disaster-resilient modular homeownership innovation. It is designed for rural families across the Rio Grande Valley and more communities struggling with persistent poverty nationwide. MiCASiTA marks a departure from a one-size-fits-all model to a system that empowers communities of color with modest incomes to choose and design their own homes.

WHAT WE’LL DO

Over the course of its grant, cdcb and [bc] aim to build six prototype dwellings whose construction costs are less per square foot than the average unit in the market. They will complete the design and launch of their Choice Empower software system, allowing clients to choose and weigh the costs of design options. They will also expand the MiCASiTA model to one additional persistent poverty region in the United States.

Looking beyond the lifespan of the grant, cdcb believes that successful scale for MiCASiTA is not just increased unit production: It is a client-led design and production system that is easily adopted and implemented across the country. That system will include a franchise model with built-in systems, processes and technology to support market diversity and context, both culturally and economically.

Most importantly, MiCASiTA aspires to generate a documented increase in client empowerment that shows measurable improvement in families’ physical and financial health and the true transfer of intergenerational wealth in communities of color.

Meet the other amazing winners of the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge!