Octavia Butler in NYC Flock House at Bemis Center – Old Market
Octavia is an elementary school teacher who “always connects anything I experience to teaching.” When seeing the NYC Flock House, she imagined “a space on a school ground” that “would breed such creativity.” In addition, it would “bring consideration for the current state of our world (use/waste of resources) and how to re-imagine it all.”
For self-sufficiency, a Flock House requires: “H2O = integrate rain barrel, E = solar or wind? Garden boxes affixed to outside, or maybe hanging gardens?” Recycled materials to build Flock Houses are “metals, recycled plastics for covering.” As a member of a design team, Octavia would bring her “experience as a gardener” and her disposition as a “puzzler.” “I love visualizing possibilities & trying them out.” She has also served as a member of “my school’s outdoor classroom committee.”
“As portable units,” the great contribution of Flock House to addressing population displacement is how they “adapt and move to fit a need. If the Flock Houses have H2O/E/Waste set up, they can be used temporarily by those experiencing a crisis. It also would allow people to be more mobile if they have a portable shelter.”
Her drawing of a Flock House design is below.
Octavia’s Flock House has a fire pit and vent for heat and cooking, and gardens.
Flock House floor plan shows Convertible seating/beds and Trap door storage with thermal cooling.