20 Distillation Guidebook Co-Lab • 9.18–9.19 2025 Appreciating Value Reframing Manufactured Housing as a Site of Architectural Inquiry Manufactured homes (MHs) house millions of people across the United States and represent the most significant source of unsubsidized affordable housing in the country (Department of Housing and Urban Development). Yet, they remain largely absent from architectural discourse and carry negative social and cultural stigma. Emma and Reese reframe manufactured housing as a valuable model worthy of study and social consideration. Their work highlights the conflict of “mobility” in manufactured housing; it is both a key factor in its affordability but introduces several constraints. As factory-built units, MHs have lower construction costs compared to housing built on site. However, this same dependence on mobility also produces distinct regulatory and financing barriers that shape how these homes are classified and sited. In addition, the policies regulating mobility have reinforced perceptions of manufactured homes as impermanent or “less than,” further marginalizing MH communities both within public perception and the discipline of architecture. In response, Reese and Emma work with residents and nonprofit developers to better understand these communities, highlight their strengths, and challenge persistent stigma. They integrate this research into their pedagogy through studios and seminars, where students engage manufactured housing communities as sites of analysis, documentation, and design. This work has found that despite being framed as mobile or impermanent, many of these FEATURE Reassessing the Potential of Manufactured Housing Reese Greenlee and Emma Silverblatt
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==