Starting with the base housing typology of courtyard; a transformational process using the ideas of layering, stacking, and shifting was used to explore the form of the building.  To begin, the mass was divided into separate layers, either a combination of two floor levels or a single floor level.  These layers were then stacked on top of each other and shifted in a lateral direction.  As the process continued, The layers were further separated into smaller sections, in some cases down to a single apartment unit.  This allowed the form to develop open areas in each level, or a perforated shape, to diminish to a degree the large scale of the building in comparison with the surrounding smaller buildings.  The smaller scaled layers also allowed for each piece to be shifted individually creating more variety in the overall form.  In the final iteration of the process, the size of the individual piece became the shifting.  That is to say, instead of moving the piece in or out from its origin, the size of the unit was extended to create the shifting movement. 

Moving on from the overall form, the process of layering, stacking and shifting is mirrored in an elevation view to ground creating a circulation plan through the site.  This shifting pattern allows the created grid to form the outdoor programs.  This process  was then applied to elements used within each unit.  The primary walls are space dividers made of layered, stacked, and shifted pieces incorporative multiple functions and storage opportunities within.