A unique non-subsidized affordable housing sector, mobile home parks are in a precarious situation: existing parks are endangered by financial predation, and new parks are limited by zoning. Architectural research on modular housing has focused on unit design and manufacturing but generally overlooked the architecture of aggregation.

2020 Arnold W. Brunner Grant for Architectural Research recipients noroof architects are studying mobile home parks, recording existing typologies and proposing adaptations to this affordable and collective housing model. The long-term objective goal is to create a roadmap for the future of the mobile home park and the development of affordable housing.

Professor Margarita McGrath and Scott Oliver are the founders of noroof, an award-winning Brooklyn-based architecture firm. The noroof project team includes Matt Young (class of 2016) and Mengru Wang. This is the second year that A+D faculty was awarded the Brunner – Katie MacDonald, Kyle Schumann, and Jonas Hauptman shared last year's award for "Smart Cross-Laminated Bamboo" (here featured in Metropolis magazine).

Learn more