scadpad.

Completed in the spring of 2014, SCADpad is a multi-disciplinary project that was put on by the Savannah College of Art and Design as a new concept for urban living. There is an abundance of parking garages in every city, and the housing shortage is increasing rapidly. So why not turn these garages in to habitable spaces? SCADpad does just that by providing small, efficient living areas in an underused urban garage. The site is in SCAD Atlanta's parking garage in midtown Atlanta, and the "pads" are small houses on trailers with vibrant personalities. It was a collaborative effort of many SCAD undergradute and graduate students across multiple disciplines, including interior design, industrial design, service design, design for sustainability, furniture design and interactive design. Three pads were designed, constructed and lived-in throughout the course of just several months. 

I worked on a team of seven designers for the sustainability side of SCADpad. Together, the seven of us collaborated with the other disciplines to ensure that sustainable concepts were demonstrated throughout the entire project. Our primary focus areas were to develop simple ways of turning waste in to resources, which could be done through composting, recycling/reusing waste from the pads, reusing gray water, and properly disposing of black water. We then designed an efficient way to filter gray water from the sinks and showers, and then reuse it for the community garden. An all-in-one source of composting, recycling and disposing of waste was also created, known as the Nu-Box, which is short for Nutrient Box. The Nu-Box was constructed of reclaimed wood and Corian for the top. It housed vermi-composting, as well as efficient disposal methods for sorting waste in recyclables and trash. 

SCADpad has been very well-received across the nation as an effective concept that spurs the tiny house movement as well as adaptive reuse in urban environments. The project was covered by Dwell, Time Magazine, Inhabitat, Elle Magazine, Fast Company, and many more. 

Learn more about SCADpad and our team.

Check out some of our research here.