Living Thresholds

Spatial Yield: Quantifying the Farm From the Start

This project began with a rigorous quantification of the farm site—mapping soil conditions, crop cycles, tool storage zones, circulation paths, and seasonal occupancy patterns. By treating the farm not just as a productive landscape but as a spatial system, the research revealed embedded logics of movement, labor, and informal dwelling. These metrics—how long workers stay, where they gather, how tools migrate across zones—became the foundation for architectural inquiry. Quantification allowed us to see beyond abstraction and into lived rhythms, drawing connections between ecological flows and human presence. It was through this data-driven lens that the need for clustered housing emerged: not as a generic solution, but as a spatial response to real patterns of use, proximity, and preference.

How can the spatial data of the farm be used to shape housing that reflects how people actually live, move, and belong on site?

By analyzing the farm through graphs and spatial data, we’ve gained a clear understanding of its operational rhythms—how tools move, where labor concentrates, and how the land is used across seasons. This quantification helped us see the farm as a system, but now the challenge is to make it livable. How do we introduce human needs such as rest, privacy, gathering, identity into an environment shaped by productivity and temporality? This next phase asks us to design spaces that respond not just to function, but to feeling. The goal is to create housing that reflects how people actually live on the farm: where they pause, connect, and belong.

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Grounded Conditions:

Introducing the Site as System

Chester Farm is more than a place to work—it’s a place where people live, even if only for a season. Our site analysis looked closely at how the land supports daily life: where people sleep, cook, gather, and move. We studied the atmosphere of the site, noticing what feels welcoming and what doesn’t. Some areas are well-used and naturally connected, while others feel isolated or underutilized. The goal is to improve not just the layout, but the experience of living here. That means designing housing and infrastructure that support comfort, privacy, and community—like shared kitchens, shaded gathering spaces, and better access to water and tools. By understanding how the site works and how it feels, we can build systems that make Chester Farm a place where people can live well and work together.

What do we look at?

The site was studied not just as farmland, but as part of a larger residential and ecological network. Attention was given to how it interacts with the surrounding neighborhood regarding its visibility, access points, and the way it connects or disconnects from nearby homes, roads, and shared spaces. This approach shifted the focus from isolated worker housing to a more integrated, community-aware design. By observing how people might arrive, gather, and move through the site—not just to work, but to live—we began to identify opportunities to strengthen its relationship with the environment and the town. The goal is to design housing and infrastructure that feel like part of the neighborhood: open, connected, and responsive to both the rhythms of farm life and the needs of a broader community.

The Design

This research began with a focused investigation into the spatial and infrastructural conditions surrounding temporary agricultural labor, examining how farming practices intersect with housing, mobility, and community formation. Through site visits, precedent analysis, and documentation of seasonal worker accommodations, the study revealed a persistent disconnect between the rhythms of agricultural labor and the rigidity of conventional residential design. The findings emphasized the need for adaptable, identity-responsive living systems—ones that can accommodate not only the temporality of farm work, but also the cultural, familial, and social preferences of diverse user groups.

Site Plan Analysis

This research began with a focused investigation into the spatial and infrastructural conditions surrounding temporary agricultural labor, examining how farming practices intersect with housing, mobility, and community formation. Through site visits, precedent analysis, and documentation of seasonal worker accommodations, the study revealed a persistent disconnect between the rhythms of agricultural labor and the rigidity of conventional residential design. The findings emphasized the need for adaptable, identity-responsive living systems—ones that can accommodate not only the temporality of farm work, but also the cultural, familial, and social preferences of diverse user groups.

Master Plan

Housing Unit Plans

This research began with a focused investigation into the spatial and infrastructural conditions surrounding temporary agricultural labor, examining how farming practices intersect with housing, mobility, and community formation. Through site visits, precedent analysis, and documentation of seasonal worker accommodations, the study revealed a persistent disconnect between the rhythms of agricultural labor and the rigidity of conventional residential design. The findings emphasized the need for adaptable, identity-responsive living systems—ones that can accommodate not only the temporality of farm work, but also the cultural, familial, and social preferences of diverse user groups.