THE ARCHITECT’S ROLE

The architect acts as lead designer during the phase, undertaking full building survey and understanding the dynamics of the spaces.

The ‘moduli abitativi’ are designed to fit the existing spatial plan of the building, using standard dimensions and materials accessible to the residents. They consider electrical, plumbing and heating strategies as well as planning the initial demolition and restoration work.

The architect creates an ‘ikea style’ manual and tool kit and perhaps builds a prototype with the residents which they can then take and recreate onsite for their own modules.

Phase 2 - Collaborative Building

The residents complete the building process using the architects manual and toolkit.

They work collaboratively amongst their group and with the wider community, utilising peoples skills in the building process. The local community is invited to participate and view the building process connecting the site back to local people and re-establishing its presence as an asset of the community.

The architect will work collaboratively with the residents, coming on site to aid in the process where necessary and help with design decisions. They also benefit from working with residents in understanding how they live and how their spaces may work best for them.

Phase 3- Inhabiting the Space

The architects also provide a set of instructions and dimensions to work within for the internal space, including a number of varying layouts for kitchens, bathrooms and internal spaces. The residents are free to tweak or change the design within this set of dimensions to suit their way of living.

The architect also designs a set of practical furniture that can be built into the home and utilised by the residents should they wish.

Residents have autonomy over these decisions and as they begin to inhabit the space they may bring furniture and personal items and populate the spaces to become their home.

The group host a coffee morning with the community.

The ground floor communal spaces are open and visible from the street and help to promote interaction with the local community. To re-establish the Scuola as an asset of the community, the group host weekly coffee mornings inviting the public onto the site, giving them the opportunity to witness the building progress, volunteer to help out and be involved in the process.

The Architect, Marianne and Francesco take a lunch break.

The ‘moduli abitativi’ are built from a set of instructions and a toolkit in collaboration with the architects. In the first phase a prototype is built in collaboration with the architects and construction professionals, teaching each of the residents how they are built so that they can repeat the process to build their own modules.

The box like form is built from materials that are both easily accessible, affordable and easy to cut and work with.

Luca working at his desk after a day of building.

The cabin-like ‘moduli abitativi’ at the first floor are intended for shorter-stay residents such as Luca who is collaborating on the project as part of his Master’s Thesis. They allow enough space for these residents to live comfortably and have access to share the communal kitchen and lounge.

The units are fitted with built in furniture to maximise the space and are more prescribed by the architects than the upper floor apartment-like units.