Title: Highlands Hospital Worker Housing
Location of Proejct: Highlands, NC
Project Completion Date: N/A
Firm Name:

Short Description: The Highlands-Cashiers Hospital faces many challenges due to fluctuations of the local population throughout the year because of the cost of living in Macon County, North Carolina. Because this hospital serves a popular retirement destination community, staffing needs are seasonal. The population tends to rise in warmer months, and fall in colder months. Further, many vacancies exist within regular full-time positions due to the lack of affordable housing. Many employees opt for long commutes over the high local housing costs. The goal of this project is to create economically viable housing options to attract and retain employees for the hospital.

Architect's Statement: The Highlands-Cashiers Hospital faces many challenges due to fluctuations of the local population throughout the year because of the cost of living in Macon County, North Carolina. Because this hospital serves a popular retirement destination community, staffing needs are seasonal. The population tends to rise in warmer months, and fall in colder months. Further, many vacancies exist within regular full-time positions due to the lack of affordable housing. Many employees opt for long commutes over the high local housing costs. The goal of this project is to create economically viable housing options to attract and retain employees for the hospital.
The location of this site is secluded, but not further than 5 minutes from the hospital, and is tucked in the valley of two ridges southwest of the hospital. With consideration of the context of the site, water collection quickly became a determinant of the design for the affordable housing oasis. Thus, leading to designing the site as an amenity of its own accord, by situating the houses on a deck surrounded by water retention bioswales. Secondly, with the employees unknown length of stay anywhere from a few months to years, it was imperative that the design fostered a sense of community by providing a close knit design with amenities such as a daycare and resource center. Along with the high cost of living, the child care availability is scarce in the area, leaving families on the wait list for months on end. The onsite daycare would give priority to the employee residents of the hospital to help with retention. The hospital’s inability to retain employees due to these issues within the community, has made it difficult for the hospital to keep programs like surgery in business. It was clear that if there was a source for affordable housing and child care, that the hospital would be able to bring back these specialties and teaching/learning opportunities such as training for Certified Nursing Assistants. The Resource Center is in place to support the immediate community of the Oasis, as well as the other hospital employees by providing a library, cafe, study spaces, and conference rooms. The Resource Center and Daycare are considered the public “bookends” to the series of houses that sit amongst the deck of the bioswales that can be used as an educational tool for the children. The complex as a whole is ADA accessible from the Daycare playground to all levels of the deck, all main level apartments that include studios, 1-, 2- and 3-bedrooms, to both levels of the Resource Center. To further emphasize the sense of community, the houses are each unique in plan to give the residents a feeling of personalization of their own “home”. The houses are closely knit together by the deck and gardens for the residents to make their own. The two halves of the deck are joined by a communal gathering stair that becomes a central node for the families to come together as neighbors, so, regardless of their length of stay, they can feel at home.