Row

de William Williams

"The copious presence of the shotgun house in Third, Fourth, and Fifth Wards, historically African-American neighborhoods directly adjacent to downtown Houston, has provided a basis for work that re-evaluates this house form. In a series of paintings in the 1980s, Houston artist John Biggers identified the shotgun house as a community enabler. Project Row Houses demonstrates this capability through its community revitalization effort, which consists of artist's installations, child after-school care and its Young Mothers Residential Program, all in a cluster of twenty-two row houses. The 15th round of installations in the eight Artist's Houses at Project Row Houses offered a unique opportunity for further study of the shotgun house. The architects and designers invited to develop installations could explore its ability to enable community as well as other characteristics and qualities by working directly within a shotgun house variation. [This book] documents the installations and the presentations from a symposium that preceded their opening. The collected work, which builds on the work of Biggers and Project Row Houses, assesses the historical and cultural significance of the shotgun house, and its material, organizational, and spatial properties, while revealing that the shotgun house has continued relevance as an informant of contemporary architecture and urbanism"--Back cover.