Students at Kansas State University have designed and constructed a two-unit apartment building that is intended to be occupied by low-income tenants.

The Waldo Duplex is located in a diverse and historic district in Kansas City, Missouri that is dominated by single-family bungalows and shotgun homes. Architectural experimentation is "rare but celebrated" in the area, which has been experiencing rising rents.
The dwelling, which contains a pair of apartments, was designed and built by a group of fifth-year students in the architecture program at Kansas State University. The students are part of Design+Make Studio, a collaboration between the university and the local firm El Dorado.

"Today, developers have commodified the duplex, creating suburban neighbourhoods with no distinctive identity whatsoever," the team said. "The Waldo Duplex looks to the inherent benefits of duplex construction, but works to redefine the building typology through a wholehearted embrace of pragmatic constructive and material constraints."
The duplex is intended to be occupied by two low-income families that earn less than 80 per cent of the city's average income.
"This building type was conceived as a more compassionate way to meet housing needs in lower-income municipalities and neighbourhoods without the density that is typical in affordable housing," the team said.

The building is designed to embrace the surrounding context. Built on a gently sloping ...