When Wanona Satcher founded her company, Mākhers Studio, in 2017, she knew she wanted to address the issue of affordable housing in her hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.
With a background as a landscape architect and urban designer, she understood the hurdles that already existed in the challenge of getting people in equitable housing.
“Whether you need a brick and mortar or a place to thrive and live close to where you work and play, [everyone needs a place] where you’re not defined by the zip code that you live in to be successful, which unfortunately happens,” Satcher told the Modular Building Institute.
So, she decided to create what was missing: Bespoke, affordable homes for people made out of recycled shipping containers, which she has named Plug-In-Pods.
“Our Pods, an innovative modular housing technology, serve as ‘on-demand’ permanent and pop-up affordable housing, entrepreneurial, and community spaces,” Satcher writes on a funding campaign for IFundWomen.
Alongside her husband — Kevin Hamak, a Marine Corps veteran who also has a background as an architect and urban designer — she leads a team of contract engineers, architects, and craftspeople, many of whom are local veterans, LGBTQ+ community members, and women.
Together, they create custom units, veteran housing, classrooms, and modular health clinics out of shipping containers acquired from localized supply chains.
The shipping containers provide what Satcher calls “adequate, abundant, and sustainable material” that is constructed in ways that are eco-conscious and resilient.
“It’s not just about building a supply of housing,” she told WABE. “It’s also about the kind of materials that you build with, and we know that especially in public housing those materials have not been healthy.”
Mākhers Studio uses low-VOC paints and sources alternative insulation materials like hemp, on top of reinforcing the units with steel and metal to maintain energy efficiency.
One 40-foot-long container ultimately recycles about four tons of steel, since the company uses less materials and produces an estimated 50% less landfill waste in installation than traditional construction projects.
Right now, the studio is using this model to create a series of housing projects for veterans in Durham, North Carolina.
Plenty of shipping container- and micro-housing units are dotting the country, bringing affordable housing to communities with the highest need. But supporting homeless veterans hits close to home for Satcher and Hamak.
“In Durham, we’re not just building container homes for veterans, we’re also creating a courtyard space for restorative health and communal space in between these units, so that veterans have an opportunity to rehabilitate there,” she said.
“It is interesting that [we’ve] caught the eye of veterans organizations, but it makes sense, because one of the highest demographics of homelessness in the U.S. is among veterans. These organizations provide both land and amazing wraparound services, as they want to expand access for veterans to have quality spaces and restorative spaces to live.”
As a contractor for organizations providing these housing services, Satcher said Mākhers Studio leads the charge on navigating codes and zoning laws to move quickly and efficiently — without sacrificing quality.
“We manage the entire process for them from beginning to end,” she said.
The contracted projects for veteran housing communities are only part of the work the company does. Satcher and Hamak also oversee custom micro-housing units — that start around $75,000 — for marginalized homeowners like single parents, elders, and people who have experienced homelessness.
“Affordable housing is one of the most critical components of an equitable community,” Satcher told 2X Global.
Amid a surging housing crisis, vulnerable communities continue to be displaced from their communities and need alternative options to live comfortably, she added.
“We have to start thinking differently about how we live together.”
Header image courtesy of Mākhers Studio
