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Alumni Exhibition – Homecoming 2024  | Emmanuel Carrillo (C’21)

The Suburb of Restraint: A New Form of Dwelling for Merced, CA

The Central Valley is the fastest growing region in California, continuously expanding in a bid for cheap land. At the center of this growth is Merced, a town that has become a hub of regional importance thanks to its new University of California campus. Although Merced is expanding primarily through single-family housing, this project provides an alternative model for suburban living. By proposing a linear megastructure, a sub-urban corridor connecting the university to the city functions as both housing and public transportation. The interior typology accommodates the various needs of Merced’s workforce, consisting of people who work physically demanding jobs and intellectual laborers in the university. On the top floor, a publicly accessible shuttle creates a direct mode of transportation independent of automobiles. This form of suburban dwelling creates an alternative community with minimal impact on the land. The project imagines a space where students, farm workers, stay-at-home parents, small business owners, tradespersons, children, the elderly, homeboys, tenured professors (adjuncts too) and anyone open to a new form of living are welcomed in and given a space of their own.

This project was created as a Master of Architecture thesis project at the University of California Berkeley under the guidance of Maria Alvarez Garcia and Georgios Eftaxiopoulos.

Dates: October 1st – November 1st

This October, join us as we spotlight the diverse and vibrant works of our Emmanuel Carrillo.

The Carlson Tower Gallery is open Monday-Friday, 9:00am-9:00pm.