UR2019 Single Person Dwelling: Well-Being Through Productive Loneliness

UR2019

Single Person Dwelling: Well-Being Through Productive Loneliness

Focus

Visualizing and Communicating

Unit Assistant

Aditi Anand Kumar

3rd year

Charan V Daksh Tak Dhanvi Shah Dhriti V Jagasheth Ketki Nandanwar Khushi Patel Parthvi Darji Soha Gandhi Vikramaditya Karnawat Katsushi Goto

Demographic Research Journal’s issue, Living Alone: One-person household in Asia (2015), addresses one-person households as the fastest growing living situation in the world, especially in Asia. The current social welfare system and institutions not only fall short of supporting one-person households, but the distribution and utilization of resources are known to be limited to and facilitated for an ideal family household. Within this studio, we rethought housing outside of the ideal family household and questioned spatiality and materiality associated with the state of well-being, especially single person dwelling as a primary situation.

During COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lock-down, we have experienced being alone in our own home/room while connected with friends and families online. With this recent experience as a starting point, participants documented her/his own space and objects to analyze and articulate relationships with her/him. Further within the studio, we addressed how a single person dwelling confirms its normality and well-being. Sitting at the threshold of communal and private, or simultaneously confining and liberating, the single person dwelling is purposed as both: for isolation and for production, shifting between these two states of being.

NOSTALGIA A view through a woman’s eyes sitting in the dining space and looking through the window at people that are busy in their daily lives and feeling nostalgic about the days when she used to go out more often, and work.

DWELLING TYPOLOGY I

This unit meant for the elderly (50 years +) is a double-faced unit, opening towards the street as well as the internal courtyard; thereby making the unit a transition space in itself, a space between the chaos of the outside and the calm of the inside. Between every two units is a smaller unit for accommodation of a helper/nurse.

THE READING CORNER While a window may be a gateway for someone towards the chaos of the world outside, the same window could become a cosy nook for a person in the evening, having tea or reading a book. It may become a place for a person to cool off, relax, and unwind.

Fig 1

Fig 1

BUILDING LEVEL

The units are organised around three inward-looking courtyards, creating a ‘safe community space’ within for the women residents of Hygge.

Planning UG Level-2 Fig 1 Ketki Nandanwar Hygge : dwelling typology 1 (plan, model, views) | building section | ground floor plan Fig 2 Soha Gandhi Process of documentation & photogrammetry Fig 3 Parthvi Darji Photogrammetric model | documenting of a day Fig 4 Dhanvi Shah Swasthay : evolution of units | designed units Fig 5 Charan V Single Women Housing : unit design & illustrations of territoriality Fig 6 Khushi Patel Magnet Migrants : unit typology A and B Fig 7 Daksh Tak Rookie’s Den : unit catalogue | floor plans Fig 8 Dhriti V Jagasheth Rec Homes : building model | on site | floor plans Fig 9 Vikramaditya Karnawat The Tower : site | type 2 floor plans | elevation

Photogrammetry & tracing : camera > digital 3d model > drawings

SCANNING OBJECTS Processes attempted : i. Qlone IOS Application ii. 3d Scanner Android Application iii.Clicking 100 pictures from various angles on camera > Autodesk ReCap > Extract .obj file >

CloudCompare SCANNING INTERIOR SPACES Processes attempted : i. Scan through Canvas IOS Application > extract .obj file > CloudCompare > Autodesk ReCap > Export to AutoCAD for positioning camera & tracing ii. Clicking 100 pictures from various points in a space > Autodesk ReCap >

Extract .obj file > CloudCompare > Autodesk ReCap > Export to AutoCAD for positioning camera & tracing

Personal space documentation

The 3D models were traced and converted to conventional drawings i.e. plan, elevation, section with representation of surface materiality in domestic space.

Analysis and narrative building

Fig 2

Fig 2Fig 2

Fig 3

Soha's personal space - A Narrative (Space as a reflection of the individual)

My personal space i .e. my bedroom is a reflection of my interests and is arranged to include everything I need. I have a penchant foreverything floral and that is evident from the floral bedsheets, artificial flower hangings, origami flowerson thewall,urulion the tagboard which is filled with fresh flowers grown in the box window and terrace. The box windowandterraceprovideme withanopenspace where Ican enjoy watching birds -another thingthatIamveryfondof .

DOCUMENTING A DAY After the documenting of objects around one’s home, this exercise was done to bring awareness to how one lives and occupies their space, specifically in their individual room, and analyse the relationship between activity and object.

EVOLUTION OF UNITS | Exploration of objects and space organisation

PLAYING WITH OBJECTS : WINDOW, TABLE AND BED DIVIDING SPACE THROUGH OBJECTS FORMING OF UNITS THROUGH OBJECTS

SINGLE PERSON UNIT SHARED UNIT Fig 4

Illustrating territoriality within unit :

• The user is resting on the bed, keeping the balcony door open towards the common open spaces. • The user is working at her study table and has closed all doors to block out distractions. • The user likes to keep the entire space open and transparent while eating. • The user has a visitor over and is using only the living space. Illustrating territoriality within the unit :

• User A occupies the balcony, making it an extension of her territory, while User B extends hers to the common living space. • The users are cooking and using the kitchen and common living space together. • The users have opened the partitions between their personal spaces and together occupy the whole room. • User A has invited her roommate

User B into her personal space.

Fig 5

UNIT A : single sharing + single floor

Unit A typology affords the inhabitant the most privacy in the neighbourhood. It is independent and consists of washroom and kitchen along with sleeping space and storage.

Fig 6

UNIT B : double sharing + duplex

Unit B typology is shared by two inhabitants, with the split level organisation affording each some privacy. The toilet and kitchen spaces are shared, allowing more area for the sleeping area and storage. The area under the staircase provides space to even store a bicycle, besides other personal belongings.

ROOKIE’S DEN

As an update to the current hostel typology, this project explores the prioritising of inhabitant privacy over governance, not only within the individual unit but also in the corridors and common spaces.

Units are designed to allow inhabitants privacy and isolation and have more than one entrance/exit which opens onto a shared space/external corridor.

At the floor plate scale, units are organised so as to deter monitoring of the inhabitants, in contrast to traditional linear structures that enable governance. Since the room area is quite small, the furniture objects needed to be extremely versatile and adaptable. The box bed plays multiple roles as a furniture -to sit, sleep and store belongings- and has inbuilt drawers, cupboards as well as a fold-in table. Just outside the front door is a small open area: a sort of verandah.

REC HOMES

Prahladnagar, Ahmedabad Site area : 3750 m² Total residential area : ~21,000 m2 No. of floors : 9+2 No. of units : 150 Unit size : ~30 m² No. of residents : 500

Fig 8

Site : NH 8, Goregaon, Mumbai Area : 13,000 m²

THE TOWER

Total residential area : 49,684 m2 No. of units : 522 No. of floors : 46 Area of floor plate : 2784 m² No. of units per floor : 36 Unit size : ~30 m²

The tower form is the most land-intensive solution for housing in an already dense urban context. On each floor plate, individual units are arranged along the periphery to maximise use of the facade. The balconies act as a secondary connection to each unit. A variety of common spaces are created at the corners as well as interior, with the core of the tower dedicated to services and vertical circulation.