Existenzmaximum - Atlas of Shared Living. Vol.III

ExistenzMaximum ATLAS OF SHARED LIVING

vol. III

[ an uncomplete, and unfinished journey through times, people, and the sharing economy. ] thesis by ani safaryan

Milano 2019

v.III Ani Safaryan Prof.: Piero Poggioli Tutor.: Micaela Bordin Politecnico di Milano Scuola di Architettura Urbanistica Ingegneria delle Costruzioni - MI Laurea Magistrale Architettura MI 1136 E12 850279 Milano 2019

# existenzmaximum

Following is the author’s attempt to define a set of rules and guidelines for a new typology of social housing as seen from the millennial perspective.

The two projects: for Venice and for Shanghai have been developed as models that could be replicable for the cases of historical cities and cities in the countries with emerging economies. The two have been designed in contemporary and are presented in a constant confrontation to highlight the differences between those two worlds and to accent the similarities of both in front of the common future.

Vol.I

# Sharing economy Chapter I

Chapter II

“Of Millennials and of their unusual manner of living.”

“How Millennials grew up with Technology and where it leads them.” p.05

Chapter IV

Chapter III

“Of the manner the things are shared, swapped, traded and rented in the Sharing Economy” p.23

Chapter VII

Chapter VI

“Of Airbnb, or How to belong Anywhere ”

“From Existenzminimum to Existenzmaximum, Or how the Architects designed our homes in the last century” p.51

p.35

“Of Venice and Shanghai and how they treat the Time differently”

p.67

p.77

Vol.III

# From Venice to Shanghai and back Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

“Of Home as a Network”

“How a Palazzo in Venice got transformed”

“How to move from Venice to Shanghai in one day”

p.05

p.39

p.95

TABLE OF CONTENTS Vol.II

# Communal living Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

“How Hakka people built earthen building and lived ”

“What manner of dwelling the Yanomami have”

“Of the manner the Iroquis, the Viking and the Austronesian Longhouse is made”

p.05

Chapter IV

p.17

Chapter VI

Chapter V

“How the Qala Residents hid their houses from the Strangers’ eyes”

p.57

p.69

“Of Venice and Shanghai and how they treat the Time differently”

“How communal dinners stopped taking place in Kollontai”

p.95

# Author’s observations Privacy v.I, p.66

p.77

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

“How the Squats are vanishing everywhere and how people in Køpi resist”

Legal Issues v.I, p.57

“How Migrants used to dwell in Boarding Houses”

“How people in Kommunalka set their own rules and of their manner of living”

Chapter VII

p.29

p.109

The two cosmopolitans v.I, p.80

The new type of city dweller v.I, p.95

p.121

Of Ikea and identity v.III, p.21

CHAPTER 1

Of Home as a Network

THE MILLENNIAL SOCIAL HOUSING

for static and floating urban population

benefits for all:

affordable housing stock (upgrade and renewal) economically profitable sheme sustainability and balanced distribution (of locals and tourists, of resources)

new services available development catalyst new connections affordable rent convenient location network of like-minded people access to more facilities and things ease of travel authentic local experience possibility to monetize some assets

* Thiel, Peter A., and Blake Masters. Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future.

Broadway Business, 2014.

connectedness

the biggest challenge:

critical mass: network effects make product as much useful, as more people use it. to gain the critical mass the product should be valuable for its first users, when the network is necessarily small*.

THE NEW EXISTENZMINIMUMMAXIMUM The big problem of the real estate market and the housing policies today is their “social blindness”.

Generally, throughout the history, architecture for homes and apartments is the most conservative sector to resist innovation the longest*, but sometimes the change in the way the people live is so big that the transformation of the dwellings is unavoidable. And we are experiencing on of those change periods, for the way people organize themselves as a community has changed drastically, both inside the housing unit and in the community at large, even though the basic needs of sleeping, eating, and hygiene remain largely consistent. There are several changes affecting how people live.

First, there are demographic changes: More than ever the urban household is not populated by the standard family, father, mother, and children, but is headed up by singles. In many cities households without children outnumber the ones with children. These trends are fed by the two strong cohorts of the aging baby boomers and the underemployed millennials. Both groups are looking for urban accommodation. With the trend towards the more expensive urban living, homeownership is down and rentals are up.

Then there is density. The global trends of urbanization require accommodation that is different from the repertoire that has been built for nearly a century: The three story walk-ups, double loaded corridor tower slabs, and the variations of the rowhouse aren’t enough to satisfy the shifted demands. Global urbanization also requires more sustainable structures not only in terms of how much space housing takes up but how much energy it uses, how resilient it is against climate change and what its transportation footprint is.

Last but not least, there are the cultural shifts. No matter how exciting remote work can seem, there can still be challenges in balancing the individual’s needs and values. For many, the location independent lifestyle can be isolating, and for those who often move, there can be a distant sense of belonging to any place or community.

Social isolation can be difficult for those who travel to places where they can no longer communicate, but it can even be challenging for the remote worker at home. The formal workplace, although restricting, does offer a lot of opportunities for social interaction.

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* Adolf Loos agrees: “The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative”

Therefore, the issue is to improve how we set up where and how we live. The existing common types of housing, whether it’s the individual apartment cell or suburban detached house, only frame the life of the individual (or the individual and their family). There aren’t many systems in place to encourage social mixing.

The new type of housing should answer those questions and provide new, different ways for culturally and ethnically diverse adults to live together. It has to adress the questions of isolation and the peoples’ desire for place-making, community,and interaction that drives the trend to urbanity overall.

When not working, many young professionals would prefer to spend less time at home, and more time out with friends, exploring the city or seeking experiences.

Thus, why pay in your rent fees for these spaces that you don’t frequently use?

Why to have a living room and a kitchen, when one hardly uses them. The trend of the last decades to equip the kitchen with all the commercial appliances possible is a bit comic at a time when so much food is bought prepared requiring minimal preparation work in the kitchen, etc.

If one accepts to give up some of its own spaces inside of the apartment and transfer those to the public realm, one agrees to condense its private apartment to the minimum needed, and with the new trend of intangible assets one really doesn’t need much, except for spacious room, pleasant to stay in, and some basic servant spaces, that no one wants to share with others, like bathroom and storage units for own stuff. Instead one gets a wide range of common amenity spaces, which turn the living into an experience and allow communal interaction between the residents in kitchens, gyms, coworking spaces, in-house bars, media centers and the like. The shared spaces are essential for encouraging casual social engagement.

For some, although they like the idea of travel, may prefer to stay where many of their friends or colleagues live. However, the individual should be able to live locally in the own hometown, while still being able to pursue the experience driven lifestyle that many prefer. In other markets, business models based on ownership are quickly being replaced by service models. This should unfold in housing now as well and may help the cities which are facing the problem of their local population loss.

Although this causal interaction is good for one’s health, it might be a critical opportunity for developing business, intellectual or artistic relationships as well.

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This new type of house could become some kind of a social incubator for new ideas: a community of young professionals around a dinner table every night, who each pursue their own passions, would be a great opportunity to broaden one’s knowledge and exposure to new interesting things.

For the new millenium a residential building should be a not only an assembly of dwelling units but a place where the sharing mentality manifests itself in its many facets and transforms the living into an experience.

The new dwelling has to mix the local static population with the ones constantly on the move to encourage their social interraction and mixing, it has to give the feeling of belonging not only for those who are in their own territory but also for those who are transient guests.

And then there is one more crucial question left: if one is constantly on the move and increasingly location independent, does he still need to have a house?

- Yes. ... But is it enough to have just one?

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If we need to really adress the question of the housing in depth, it is clear, that with the new way of nomadic living, having a suitable house just in one location is not anymore enough. The house should become a part of a wider network of places, inbetween which one could move freely. This implies a collaboration on an international level, more connectedness and openness.

The way an individual sees himself in its dwelling should be similar to one of a Yanomami indian seeing himself in the biosphere: a radial perception of one’s Self’s relation to the outer world.

The dwelling becomes a system which works by gradually sharing some things with the others.

The first circle of the system is the resident in his own private unit brought to the new Existenzminimum. Next circle is the one who is at closest to the resident, someone that he chose to live with: a partner, a spouse, a kid, a friend or someone else. Then there are people on the same floor who share some basic spaces and amenities with the resident. Widening the overall interraction, there are people in the house who share with the resident a wider range of facilities and spaces.

Next come the people of the district, that not only share with the residents some exterior spaces of the city, but ony may have access to some of the services inside of the house. On a wider scale, there is the city that works in a symbiosis with the house. And then there is the world with other locations as the house, which are interchangable.

In this interrelated scheme everyone follows its own interests while at the same time benefiting the others. The residents gets an affordable dwelling and access to a big range of services. The people of the district get some new interesting services available to them, but also some economical profits from the new residents as well as a more culturally and ethnically diverse community.

The city gets its tourists and locals better distributed, the question of the affordable housing gets sorted and turns into a profitable model. It gets his abandoned buildings or vacant plots tranformed into places of crucial vitality and energy, it may also solve its obsolete housing stock by replacing it gradually with the new, more dense housing model.

While the world benefits by getting more connected and open with a network of like-minded people linked through their big housing community.

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OF IKEA AND IDENTITY

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#author’s observations

The new type of dwelling for the digital nomads is born as a fruit of the capitalism and globalization. It takes advantage of the relative low cost of the travel and of the sharing economy systems to make it easy to roam from one location to the other with a great convenience. The millennial housing becomes some sort of a worldwide franchise chain: if one knows how one location works, he knows also what to expect from the others. What does this imply in terms of space?

Taking the example of any capitalist giant that provides spaces to stay, let’s say Starbucks. Can one guess if the coffee shop is in Bejing, Berlin or New York from the interior? If we shut the view to the surrounding context there will be not many hints to know. The place would be the same anywhere, the smells, the taste and the way the place lives would be the same; the surroundings - irrelevant. A 21st century heterotopia.

Now we take the housing example. We go to Airbnb, we choose a superhost, we check the reviews, we look to a neatly looking flat. Is it in Bangkok or Milan? On average we are going to encounter a vast amount of listings looking all the same, even furnished with the same furniture, exhibiting the same objects. We recognize that average-nice style, we know we can expect an average-good quality, we go for it.

But does it really make any sense to move from one part of the world to the other, to finish up sitting on the same chair be it in Beijing or Berlin? Being a big crowbased/crowd-funded network instead of a collection of autonomous entries, the existenzmaximum housing could allow the luxury of denying the globalization and the capitalism in its locations. Every single location should become a catalyst of the local spirit. It should be entirely designed taking into consideration the identity of the place, the construction traditions, local materials, artisan crafts and the local living habits (contemporary, not nostalgic).

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WHERE TO LOCATE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

IN THE CITY

position requirements located centrally or in an animated mixed-use community *but out (or partly out) of city’s main touristic routes in an easy reach to the main transportation nodes in the satelite cities, where most of the work-commuters come from proximity of a public park or own garden possibility

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possible locations abandoned buildings destined for residential or hospitality use ex-hotel buildings (affected by Airbnb disruption) renewal of the existing obsolete residential stock vacant spots post-demolition spots

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ECONOMICAL SCHEME

pre-launch policy

investment after launching

after gaining momentum

realization phase physical construction

digital construction

positive side effects

running phase physical administration

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digital administration

Since housing is a highly complex system that only works in interaction with different actors, for an introduction of a new type of socially housing, especially one that works on an international level, the market requires the cooperation of landowners, financing banks, architects and urban planners, the construction industry and the local municipalities. Political and administrative framework conditions, such as tax legislation, building and tenancy law, monument protection regulations and funding programs, have a significant impact on investment activities. All of those stakeholder groups have a common interest in the land use of the city and must agree on a shared housing program.

Since the proposed type of housing is beneficial for the cities, the government has to favor the construction of them by either comissioning the construction of those house to third parties, either coming to an agreement with the banks to have a lower interest rates that favor the investment in that type of construction. The house is meant to be a catalyst for the sharing economy and transactional relations between the residents and the city, and thus it may become the first model of social housing that is also profitable and self-sufficient and autonomous in terms of its maintenance. The construction (and reconstruction of the existing stock) will involve additional resources and workforce, thus opening new possibilities for the local construction, material and other supplier companies, opening new workplaces. Same regards to the workplaces needed for the construction of the digital infrastructure that has to be the backbone of the houses in the network.

So on the first phase of the global network launch those type of houses should be constructed mainly by the government, private investors or corporations and cooperatives of ineterested residents. After gaining its critical mass, the new houses of the network would be ideally crowdfunded by the residents themselves.

Of course with the government still providing a substantial support.

Since those type of dwellings are places of transit like airports or train-stations, they have to become places of a special economic and legal zone, with their own tax regulations and law regulations, that would consider and favor the sustainable sharing.

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FLEXIBIITY AND TIME-SAVING The millennial housing is a residential building where one has access to a variety of facilities, and at the same time one doesn’t own anything at all.

The flexibility is understood as the freedom of not spending time on things that distract the user from its main focus.

In particular, this means a system of certain algorithms to comodify the living.

The nomad transfers to a new location for X time. Finding a temporary accommodation is a matter of some clicks. The price is affordable in general, and one choses from the subscription plans adapted for different situations.

Thus one that plans to stay for a long period can become a permanent (stays longer than 1 year) or guest dweller (stays for a couple of months) - the price for the accommodation will be at its lowest, the dweller will become to his disposition a room with a large system for storing things and will be able to monetize his room while under-used, by making the whole space or a part of it available for rent for a certain amount of time (can be a longer period, can be just a couple of hours).

For those who work in one location and live in another one or have to return constantly to the same place there is the “returning guest” subscription plan. The returning guest knows he always has his place to return with his possessions safely stored while being absent. This allows to travel light and having everything needed right upon the arrival. The price for him is low because his room is always available during his absence.

For those who won’t stay long there are the transient-overnight and supertransient plans. In this case the accommodation costs slightly more (but anyway much less than a traditional hotel or autonomous Airbnb listing). The overnight-traveller gets in his disposition a room - size varies according to the listings available. The superransient one can get a small space for taking a rest for a couple of hours or simply get a storage space for his luggage. He has access to all the facilities available at the house, some of which are included in the price, some of which can be unlocked for a certain price.

For those who prefer the absolute freedom of movement there is the perfect nomad subscription which has the highest price and gives the most possibilities.

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Any subscription plan gives a certain amount of points to spend on in-house transactions.

The locations are equipped with everything needed, the possessions to take with oneself/to buy on coming can be brought to a minimum. Places for storing the personal possessions are located as in the private living units for those who are permanent or long-term users, as also in the public areas, which allows to travel light, to have the own stuff on return and to convert the under-used spaces into a profitable asset - the profit gained can be monetized or can be converted into points. A certain (very low) percentage from every transaction is deducted for the maintanance and running of the locations.

Further points can be acquired by gaining positive reviews, providing some services (helping put with the household work, organizing shared events like meals or cinema screenings) or simply by adding some sum to the own account.

A vast network of “like-minded” poeople form different life tracks is included priceless!

Every member of the network (dweller or someone from outside who is available to provide some services) is connected through the app and can get information on what’s on in the given moment in the given location, one can outsource the household work that needs to be done, or book some spaces for meetings, join to events happening in-house, such as communal dinners, cinema screenings etc. All the in-house relations become transformed into transactions (free or paid). All the transactions are being fullfilled inside of the app interface thus the users don’t have to deal with the material part of the transaction face to face.

Unpredicted situations, social rules and reviews. Living with the others can provoke many situations that would require regulation. By joining the network one agrees to respect the given rules. The unpredicted situations/conflicts are resolved in the same logic as the blockchains work. The situation is immediately sent to the network where it gets assessed by randomly chosen users from other locations. Anonimity is preserved, situations resolved in-house, solutions go from low reviews to reduction of one’s points and fees. The cases go archived and the solutions become the new norm.

Similarly, decisions on maintanance, design and construction of a new location are taken collectively, the finances are crowdfunded, the design process is participative, the work is delegated to the chosen managerial team which outsources all the processes to run the current projects and realize the new constructions.

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Shanghai

A PRETTY VACANT SPOT

the plot

The case study in Shanghai is to be taken as a model for the “New World”. The chosen location is a vacant plot in the former “International(British) Settlement”.

The area is centrally located, but at the same time it is not on the most crowded and busy road. It is close to the confluence of Huangpu river (comparable with the Canal Grande) and the Suzhou Creek (comparable with its importance and relative size with the Cannaregio canal).

The site has the Huangpu park in its proximity, it is close to the Nanjing East Rd metro station, to the Bund, which is the most important promenade of Shanghai and it is also quite close to the Nanjing road - the most important pedestrian and commercial road. In the immediate vicinity to the plot there are a lot of restaurants, shops, public services and in general everything a resident could need.

The surroundings of the plot consist of buildings of the British concession epoque (oriental art-deco and eclectism of the period), traditional Shanghai lilong housing (two storey alleyhouses), and buildings of dubbious architectural and cultural quality, that are being rapidly replaced with buildings with even more dubbious image. The plot is interesting, because it is the only one that has been built and rebuilt all over again since the 1920s and for all the coming years, eventually becoming empty and occupied with a parking.

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f2 - WWII period archive photograph of the International Settlement with the project plot in the right lower corner On the right - author’s photographs from the site survey

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Venice

PALAZZO FOR SALE Cannaregio Palazzo Priuli Manfrin

f1

The choice of the site in Venice was quite immediate. What happens in a city that loses its population and gets more and more visitors? Houses get abandoned by the locals, houses finish at the real estate market, they get sold and transformed into hotels or similar. So the author went on Google and searched for a palazzo for sale.

Palazzo Priuli Manfrin - a splendid building in Cannaregio, close to the Ponte delle Guglie and the railway station, abandoned already for 20 years, currently on sale for receiptive-residential transformation and use and strangely with not too many modification restrictions. Bingo!

The building is chosen as a case study for an approach which could be replicated in the historical city contexts. It meets all the requirements that a millennial social housing in the “Old World� should have. First of all, it has a convenient location (Santa Lucia station in 10mins, Guglie ferry stop right across the canal, Piazza San Marco in 15 mins) in the heart of Cannaregio. It even meets a requirement that is not so easy to obtain in Venice: the proximity of a public park. Indeed, Palazzo Priuli Manfrin serves(could serve if in use) as a mediator between the lively Cannaregio canal road full of tourists at any time of the day and the Parco Savorgnan on the other side, where the locals of all ages tend to come.

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f1 - the facade of the Palazzo Priuli Venier Manfrin.

On the right - author’s photographs from the site survey

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GAINING THE CRITICAL MASS ferry-boat stop

tourists flow local-residential Parco Savorgnan Cannaregio Grand Canal train station

MICRO LEVEL

abandoned, vacant plot abandoned palazzo for sale ex-hostel for sale (underutilized historical palazzo)

Venice illustrates how the network would work on the micro-level.The first milestone would be the opening of the first location. For that one the Palazzo Manfrin in Canareggio is chosen. Currently for sale, it has a suitable location: central and close to the station, on the border of tourist and resident routes, a park nearby which for Venice is something rare.

After the successful launch the network should expand to cover more locations in the historical center - buildings which are currently abbandoned and for sale for receptive or residential use are the places where to locate the houses. The network also expands on the adjacent islands, mainly Lido, Murano and Giudecca, which are also places where currently many tourists stay. It expands also to Mestre.

Parco Piraghetto

Mestre Station Marghera

The connection Venice-Mestre is the third milestone. This is the place from where most of the daily commuters for work come and go. Having a house there would facilitate thei routine of those who move inbetween the islands and the mainland.

The next big milestone is gaining enough critical mass to cover also some other cities from where the commuters come, like Padua for example. The main goal is to have enough locations which are really needed to be able to think of conquering the Lagoon.

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Shanghai illustrates the growth of the network on the macro-level. The first important milestone for the network would be the first launch in China.

This will imply a set of agreements and new legislations approved by the local government. As the first pilot project location a vacant plot in the central area in Shanghai in the former International Settlement is chosen.

The next step would be to cover with the network all the main cities in the mainland China: Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and so on.

In such way the network will gain enough critical mass and balance.

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MACRO LEVEL

As next step in every city all the important city districts should be covered by the network houses, ensuring that the supply is enough to cover the most of the demand in the most viable city points. After that the network should continue expanding towards the periferies and connecting the cities with the areas, from where the most of the urban commuters and migrant workers come from. This means passing to the next step: covering the rural areas and small satelite cities around the main ones, in order to keep in the big cities the population limit set by the government and to redistribute the people on the territory.

MICRO LEVEL

THE PERFECT BALANCE

The ultimate goal is the state of the perfect balance.

With locations distributed in the historical center, on the islands and on the mainland, the network can do its final step: conquer the islands of the Lagoon that were formerly one of the main factors of growth and splendor of Venice, but now are experiencing devastation and decline.

Supplied with the accommodation that is needed for them to live and work comfortably, the residents of the network may feel the demand for something outstanding and new. The locations in the Lagoon islands, such as Torcello and Mazzorbetto, that are drafted to be the first steps in revitalizing the small islands, can become some sort of tranquille refuges who want to escape the routine and the urban rush in search of some mental peace. The in-flow of new people eager to know, to see and to spend will help those areas to wake up and to recover.

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planned ghost towns

MACRO LEVEL The ultimate goal in this case would be bringing people not only back to the rural districts by providing autonomous self-sufficient housing from where they could work and lead an experience-based lifestyle, but also populating the cities, which were built with the coming growth of the population in mind, but did not become inhabited, simply because people didn’t move there. Those ghost cities are now covering extensive territories of China, and it is also the case of many other emerging economies (maybe not to that extreme). Such cities in China are the Chenggong, Zhengdong, Dantu and Ordos. Moreover, the government now is actively planning the construction of the Xiong’an - the biggest of the cities that will be built from scratch in the coming decade.

The critical mass that the network will gain by that time and the transportation infrastructure which is developing extremely fast will allow to redistribute the population in a more balanced and sustainable way.

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“Just like modernization – of which it is part – preservation was a western invention.

But with the waning of western power, it is no longer in the West’s hands. We are no longer the ones that define its values. The world needs a new system mediating between preservation and development. Could there be the equivalent of carbon trading in modernization? Could one modernizing nation ‘pay’ another nation not to change?

Could backwardness become a resource, like Costa Rica’s rainforest? Should China save Venice?”.

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excerpts frm Cronocaos, Rem Koolhaas

CHAPTER 2 How a Palazzo in Venice got transformed

f3

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HOW THE OWNERS CHANGED

and how they changed the building

XV century The antique palazzo belonging to Pesaro family is built 1457 Priuli family inherits the building.

1585 Daniele Priuli, the owner by that time, starts the building’s first reconstruction, in order to adapt it to his social status.

1708-1710 The conglomerate of buildings gets by the time more or less today’s dimensions and its disposition of spaces around a central court 1723 Giovanni Priuli becoms the attorney of San Marco and decides to reconstruct the building again The discontinuous facade looking to Cannaregio gets replaced with a new facade from Istria marble, designed by the architect Andrea Tirali. At the same time period the building’s monumental staircase gets designed by Bernardo Macaruzzi.

1787 The last inheritor of Priuli family, Elena Priuli Venier, leaves the building to her children.

They sell the building (in very bad conditions) to the famous tobacco industry merchant Girolamo Manfrin.

the bookmark is placed here 1787-1791 G.Manfrin starts a big scale reconstruction process.

The interior of the building gets his rich decorations.

The owner fills the house with his art collection, the second most important in Venice after the Academy Gallery’s collection.

This is the period of most splendor and fame of the palazzo.

The first two floors of the building with the more representative, high ceilings rooms, were designated for receiving guests, and the third floor with the low ceilings was the place where the hosts living quarters were located.

XVIII-XIX cc.

The collection of G.Manfrin slowly gets sold by its inheritors. The building gets in bad conditions again.

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f3 - ceiling frescoe of one of the rooms of Palazzo Priuli Manfrin

Palazzo Priuli Venier Manfrin

1897 The building gets sold to the Provincia Italiana della Società del Sacro Cuore.

It gets becomes the administrative office of a femminine institute.

The change of use from a residential building to an office brought numerous changes not only in the disposition and division of the spaces, but also in their outer decoration, since its rich ornamentation was against the sober and ascetic philosophy of the institution.

16 August 1916 Venice gets bombed by Austro-German airforces.

One of the bombs gets into the building, crashes the roof through, reaches the second floor and stops there.

Today in the building there is a memorial plate on the exact place in the pavement, which tells: “here felt the enemy’s bomb in the night of 16th August 1916.

1945 The building served as a storage for food, and was guarded by the church representatives.

Later, for a short time it even became a prison for German officials.

1968-69 The building is bought by A.C.N.I.L (Azienda Comunale di Navigazione Interna Lagunare, today’s ACTV) and transformed into an office.

1998 The building gets alienated and passes to Comune di Venezia and later to Regione del Veneto. From that time on it stays empty.

2014 Sold to Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Investments Bank and is currently on sale with a destinated use as a residential building or a tourist receptive facility.

Unaccessible for any visits. In a state of sad decay.

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STRATEGY a piece of a city in the city

private/domestic

public/urban

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Palazzo Priuli Venier Manfrin has had a long and rich history, it has changed owners and its use many times, it has xperienced a lot of alterations ever since it was built and eventually it got its current state of abandon and decay.

The bookmark for the “authentic” state of the building is placed to the end of the 18th century when the structure lived its most glorious days. The later alterations and additions are inspected and where possible are to be removed.

After freeing the structure from all the additions that were mainly done to convert the house into an office and altered the character of the spaces, the approach is to convert the building for the new millennial-residential use with minimal additions that all are reversable and have a temporary character. With the constant change of its users and uses, the building should be tailored for quick and easy transformations in time. At the same time the intervention doesn’t have the scope to be a modest background for the original building. All the added elements are easily recognizable and quite notable in their “newness” of material or form, thus creating a contemporary counterbalance the “old”.

The conversion strategy first of all shifts the margin between the urban-public and domestic-private from entrance of the residential building up to the door of every single unit. All the spaces outside of one’s own door become the continuation of the city and are shared with the others in various modes. The original structure of the building is seen as the natural landscape of the city where singular pieces of architecture are to be placed.

In the mood of the surrounding city of Venice, the monotony and repetition are avoided, even while having a series of similar living units. The location of every living unit in the apartment can be found by wordly description of its immediate surroundings and doesn’t need numbers on the entrance door. The resemblance to a residential building or a hotel is vague, the publicness takes over the domestic. The working palette consists of carefully selected local traditional materials (marble, brass, bronze, mosaics) mixed with contemporary ones (policarbonate, gfr beams, vinyl floor coverings) that allow the maximal flexibility and change. The furnishing is a mix of the Italian design pieces, international design pieces proven timeless and universal, and systems designed specifically for the project and to be implemented by the local artisans. The two polar references for the design of the spaces are the moment right before the craftsmanship gave place to the convenience of globalization - years 50-70 from one side, and a work in progress construction site on the other. The result is contemporary/atemporal.

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BACK TO THE BOOKMARK Demolitions

Ground Floor

Second Floor

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M1:500

N

Mezzanine

First Floor

Third Floor

Attic

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New Constructions

Ground Floor

Second Floor

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M1:500

N

Mezzanine

First Floor

Third Floor

Attic

48

Ground Floor

0 1 2

5m

N

The entrance area of the house becomes a space of transit and has more similarities with a train station, airport and post office, than with a common residential building entrance.

Arrivals & departures area

50

Contents

2. summer terrace

9. storage

laundry & gamesroom

12.

storage

summer kitchen

10.

8.

wc

bar sitting area

11****.

1.

the dark room

internal courtyard

4. wc barkitchen tech. room

bar arrivals & departures

room for exchange

5**.

51

delivery pick-up & luggage storage 6***.

7.

* night garden - a hidden garden space, shared with the adjacent school. accessible only after all the evening lectures are over ** room for exchange - free room for rent for exhibitions/events *** arrivals and departures area - space for getting a first impression, for acclimatization, for waiting and transit

Open Air Spaces

2.

1.

3.

Urban-Domestic Spaces

7.

5.

6.

4. night garden* 3.

Super-Domestic Spaces

9.

8.

**** the dark room - no one knows what the functions is

10.

11.

12.

52

In general, the program is organized according to the capacity of the original spaces to accommodate it. Thus, the spaces, that previously, when Palazzo Priuli Manfrin served as a family home, had more public and servant functons,were all located on the ground and first floors. Those spaces become now some sort of social condensers. Moreover, there are a couple of rooms in the building which have frescoes on the ceiling. These rooms are all kept for common areas, thus remain accessible to the public.

On the ground floor the whole access area gets transformed into a liquid space of transition. It serves for arrivals, departures, getting information and for distribution.

The main intervention in this area is the addition of a light metal structure, that carries the illumination system and information screens. Both lateral naves are transformed into a waiting area by the addition of long, continuous seating system.

On the sides of the main entrance hall there is a self-storage and delivery pickup area and on the left there are a bar-restaurant connected to the internal courtyard, and a room for exchange, which is used for showcasing products, temporary exhibitions and anything else. For all the spaces the approach is to keep the original walls intact and to work instead on the center of the room, thus saving the original form of the rooms.

The access to the upper levels is achieved by two existing staircases (one monumental staircase at the entrance and one servant staircase on the back of the building), as well as by inserting an elevator in the former servant staircase well as well as by attaching an elevator-tower on the back side of the building in the place of a late years added two-storey storage space, which did not represent any architectural value. The tower-elevator solves also the problem of unaccessibility of the mezzanine floor and the attic, which are disconnedted from the other interior elevator. The question of accessibility for the disabled people on the ground floor is adressed by adding where needed temporary metal ramps, which are applied over the existing marble stairs without destroying them.

The former servant spaces on the ground floor are used for a laundry with a play area, storage spaces and a communal kitchen with access to the terrace with the well, that faces the Parco Savorgnan. The room that leads to the small garden which is shared with the neighbouring palazzo housing a school, is defined as a dark room and is a free and silent space for those who may need some isolation.

The garden opens its doors for the inhabitants only after the lectures in the school are over and the students are out.

53

The mezzanine level comprises of two disconnected areas, one is served by the monumental original staircase and the new elevator, the other one by the elevatortower and its adjacent stair. The first part gets transformed into a small screeningroom with an adjacent mini-kitchen and a storage. The second part becomes a communal tools workshop, as well as has a communal room with its own bathroom used mainly by the people who work in the building but are not its inhabitants.

Again, the main elements the project works with are light metal structures, platforms containing infrastructure and aimed on saving the original floors from destructions and light-weight sound isolated partitions (solid or semi-transparent, depending on the room).

54

Mezzanine

N

0 1 2

55

5m

Contents

storage 4.

tools workshop

5. storage

movies room 1.

3. common room

2.

Urban-Domestic Spaces

1.

Super-Domestic Spaces

2.

4.

3.

5.

56

First Floor

N

0 1 2

57

5m

The ex-music hall - the most interesting space of the building from architectural and historical point of view, gets transformed into a coworking room by adding a couple of “work islands� (slightly elevated platforms containing all the wireing) and illuminated metal light structures defining the volumes.

Coworking room - ex-music hall

58

Contents

6.

7.

transient living

4.

common space

permanent living

permanent living 8.

permanent living

tech-lab 3.

wc brainstorming

2.

communal kitchen

2. masterclasses

co-working room for rituals

confidential talks 2.

5*.

1.

59

* room for rituals - simly talking - a communal kitchen and dining room

The communal table is a policarbonate semi-oval structure inspired by he tradition of Venetian feasts the 18th c. (see Pietro Longhi painting “Convitto in casa Nani alla Giudecca�, 1755).

Room for rituals (communal kitchen & dining area).

60

Open Air Spaces 1.

Urban-Domestic Spaces

Super-Domestic Spaces

4.

3.

2.

5.

Living

6.

7.

9.

8.

The first floor is the most crowded and most actively used one. Here the biggest concentration of people happens in the coworking area and flees also to its lateral rooms which are used as meeting, masterclass, lectures rooms. Those are used by the users of the main co-working hall, but can also be booked for special activities with a restricted access.

One of the lateral rooms in the left wing serves as a tech lab with printing and similar typography facilities. All the services are accessible through the home app and require access using the personal code. The space next to the elevator-tower serves as a coffee- and break point. On its side there is a more quite room with some workspaces as well as three super-transient cells with their shared bathroom, which is integrated in the space of the common hall. These cells represent simple semitransparent box volumes and provide the traveller with a basic comfort - place to keep the luggage, place to take a short rest/nap and a working desk.

61

60

Another place for daily encounters is the space where the inhabitants would cook and have meals. It is defined as a room for rituals. It is defined as a super-domestic one due to its restricted access. Here the meals are prepared to be shared with the thers. All the meal-sharing activities (menu, participants, duties, spendings) are also managed through the home-app.

Here the intervention is minimal: the portal that previously was dividing the space in two separate office rooms is opened and framed with brass. The communal table is a policarbonate semi-oval structure inspired by he tradition of Venetian feasts the 18th c. (see Pietro Longhi painting “Convitto in casa Nani alla Giudecca”, 1755).

The living units all have different configurations - adapted to the buildings spaces.

In order not to destroy the feeling of spaciousness and the geometry of the original rooms, the exntraces and the bathrooms are integrated in the large corridor spaces.

They are structures distinctive for their materials, colors and shapes.The partitions where possible are kept solid only untill a certain level, after which they continue in sound-proofed policarbonate, thus keeping the sense of unity of the rooms.

The second floor is the superdomestic one. Here there are 7 living units and three transient cells. The inhabitants of this floor share a communal space of the kitchen, a lounge area next to the elevator tower and the balcony area over the coworking.

The living units are designed taking into consideration that the room-owners might want to let some part of their spaces for rent for overnight or transient guests. They comprise of one or two rooms each with its private bathroom. This allows to let a part of the apartment as an autonomous unit. The room owner can let his room/a part of it for a long- or short term or for just a couple of hours during the day. Moreover, the room-owner can be away or can live in the same space and share the entrance area and some other spots.

Most of the living units have a podium part connected directly with the bathroom, which is also elevated for technical reasons. This vertical division allows for diverse use of the room. Some more privacy is achieved by separating the “stage” from the rest of the room by a curtain - in situations where the goal is visual closure, or by a movable partition (mirrored or policarbonate), when one space needs to be isolated from the other (say the room owner wants to let just a part of the room and the bathroom, while keeping his sleeping area with all the stuff safely isolated.

61

62

Second Floor

N

0 1 2

63

5m

The walls of the living units are kept solid just to a certain height and later on continue with policarbonate. This allows to perceive the spaced of the original palazzo as a whole, even though fragmented by the new corridorliving unit division.

Basic living unit

64

Contents

4.

11.

transient living

2.

common space

living unit 10.

living unit

3. living unit 9.

minikitchen 6. living unit

1.

8.

living unit

5.

living unit

65

living unit 7.

6.

Super-Domestic Spaces

1.

2.

3.

Living 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

66

67

Visual division

The partition which allows the separation of the room into a part immediately connected to the entrance and a part to be “kept off from strangers� is done in mirrored foldable panels, where the ceiling profile is ornamental.

Thus even dividing the space, it visually keeps its original geometry.

Physical separation

68

1.

2.

3.

4.

1. curtain open, partition closed 2. curtain open, partition semi-opened 3. everything open 4. curtain closed, partition stacked to a side

69

Basic living unit

70

Third Floor

N

0 1 2

71

5m

Some of the living units have a little kitchenette incorporated into the entrance wall. The kitchenette has wooden foldable shutters and is extremely compact as when open, as well when closed. The height of the podium is used as additional space for storage.

Living uni t with a kitchenette

72

Contents

5.

living unit

1.

10.

6. living unit 7.

living unit

common space 11.

living unit

living unit

smoking room 4.

8.

living unit

2. communal living room

9.

3.

living unit

73

room for kids

The surface over the bathroom and the entrance block can be used by the permanent dwellers as an additional surface for storing things, that are used not very frequently.

Living uni t with a kitchenette

74

Super-Domestic Spaces

1.

2.

3.

4.

Living

5.

75

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

8.

Living uni t with a kitchenette. States

76

The common area on the third floor is a residual space that is left after the insertion of the bathroom units in the free space of the corridor. Thanks to the particular shape and color of these, the common area is not prive of its distinctive character, and the insertion of the mini-kitchen block even strenghtens it.

77 Common area with a mini-kitchen

The former large corridors now have blocks, which contain the entrances amd services of the living units. These inserions being distinctively new, low and slightly detached, allow the comprehension of the originial spaces of the palazzo. They are also diversified among themselves for facilitating the memorization.

Corridor

78

Attic

N

0 1 2

79

5m

Contents

4.

3*

librarystudy room

Living 2.

living unit 1. living unit

Open-Air Spaces

3. rooftop terrace (over the staircase box) On the back side of the building, quite hidden behind the large trees of the park there is the only addition to the exterior of the palazzo - the elevator tower and the staircase box. Here, as in many places in the interior, the materials are policarbonate and brass. The tower is deliberately mute and monolith, with a sculptural stair hanged on it and indicating there is something going on on the top.

Super-Domestic Spaces

4. library&study room

80

The staircase on the back is continued one more level to serve also the attic with its study room and other two living units.

On the top of it there is a small rooftop terrace, accessible from the elevator tower and an external staircase. The terrace and the stair allow a view to the park and the Campo San Geremia. Woooah!

81

Rooftop terrace

82

The Front Stage

85

M1:200

Moving

M1:200

22.400

17.650

14.400

9.700

4.500

1.750 1.750

-0.450 -0.450

Coming together

89

M1:200

14.400

9.700

4.500

0.600

±0.000

90

Living

91

M1:200

17.650

14.400

9.700

4.500

1.750

-0.450

92

The Backstage

93

M1:200

94

95

CHAPTER 3 How to move from Venice to Shanghai in one day

96

STRATEGY a piece of a city in the city

public/urban

private/domestic

97

The location of the plot chosen as a model for Shanghai (and, by extension, for the rest of the “new world”) is exemplary. In the cities that expand irresponsibly with a schizophrenic speed, for a successful implementation of millennial social housing scheme it is important to find some grips to attach it to the city. Having the goal of catalyzing the “local”, those interventions should be placed in spots that still keep the identity of the city.

The International Settlement is one of the places, which best express Shanghai’s cosmopolitan spirit. It is a place where foreigners historically lived alongside the locals and interracted with each other on daily basis. Thus the area has already in its genetical code the openness to diversity and cultural exchange.

The layout of the area has little changed since its first occupation and the architecture is a mix of Western styles in a free Asian interpretation. The district consists of public buildings of the British and American concessions period and very interesting from the architectural point of view (many of them are protected by law), from typical lilong alleyway houses of the same time, and from post-war and communist revolution period mid-rise buildings of a low quality and in different states of decay. The lilongs and the mid-rises are now actively being demolished and give place to the other category: the skyscrapers (there is a particularly ugly one right in front of the plot). As regards the traditional lilongs, currently their demolition is slowing up, due to the understanding of their attractiveness for local and global tourists. (This in many cases means they still are being demolished, but later are reconstructed in a pseudo-historical average mode, totally adapted for commercial use).

The plot by itself is now used for parking. Looking to the historical maps it is interesting to note that from all of the surrounding plots it is the only one that had problems in taking a consistent shape during the time. It has been always constructed in a fragmented way and was being rebuilt again and again almost every decade.

A photograph from an Airbnb listing close to the area shows perfectly the current situation with the housing in Shanghai. It contains remains of every period in the city’s history of the last century and is quite heterogenous, if not to tell chaotic.

Moreover, looking at any view of the city one can note a couple of construction site is working progress.

So how to design a building in such a hypercontext of a constant change?

98

f4

The strategy is to design a building which is easy to deal with during the time.

This means that it needs to be easy and quick to construct, it should be cheap and consist of as many ready-made elements as possible. And so it needs to be easy also to change and to recycle during the time. This impacts the design in every aspect.

The building has a series of features that dialogue with the city. If in the case of Venice all the new interventions tended to be diversified one from the other and became some sort of anchors to memorize the places, and the collective spaces were rather domestic, “slow”, with only some occasional points of “rush”, Shanghai is completely the opposite. Here the spaces are designed as places of transition, of high velocity, with only some occasional corners of tranquility and slow down.

The elements are kept simple, regular and are often repetitive, getting interest only when seeing as a whole, which is again a feature common to China and to Shanghai in particular.

The living units are a contemporary interpretation of lilong houses. They are two storey dwellings with their own private gardens (loggias) and their intermediary filter spaces between the entrance of the house and the alleys - the common spaces.

99

f4 - a whole range of residential typologies present in Shanghai (author’s photograph)

The building is a compact square box. This allows for a certain indifference and closure to the immediate context and lets to focus on the inner self and create a unique microcosm, which is something common for almost all types of collective dwelligs. Still, not to detach the building completely from its surroundings, there is an exception made on the north side: it is rotated to become parallel to the main street and to give continuity the streetfront facing it.

The building is composed of its habitable core and the outer “cage� which is placed with some distance and rersults a narrow treshhold sace turning around the building. This is a space where the inside and the outside worlds slightly blend and where the unusual scenatios can take place.

100

Ground Floor

N

0 1 2

5m

ad mai

n ro

North entrance

delivery, sorting, pick up and self storage

coffee!

city bike parking goods loading linear garden

103

coffee!

sunken square

city center direction

Lower South entrance

South entrance

carsharing

car charging

105

parking access

104

storage tech.room

parking

tech.room

storage

Parking level Thanks to the compact shape of the building it became possible to occupy just a part of the plot and to keep the rest for the city. On the South side of the building a sunken square is organized to provide a public space prive of the frenetic agitation of the street level. The square is accessed by stairs from one side and a long ramp, which starts on the North of the building and proceeds all along its East side.

The building is accessible for pedestrians from the North (level of the street) and the South (both from the level of the street and the sunken square).

On bike people can reach the building using the bike roads of the city and then storing the bikes under the portico of the building, in the bike parking on its West side.

For cars there is a small underground parking (considering that the millennial social housing promotes carsharing, the number of parking posts is kept minimal - 40 spots for the total 200 residents. The parking is accessible from the Southwest.

On the same side, next to the parking ramp, a street provides immediate access to the ground level. This is used to access the car-charging point and as a waiting area for the carsharing vehicles.

105

- Airport? Amazon storage?

A factory assembly line?

- 21st century schizoid house.

Arrivals & departures area

106

f5

the outer world

reshh

old s

building block 1

the “rue interieur” the “proscenium” space

the “proscenium” space

construction site

the “megaron”

the crowded staircase

the “rue interieur”

the glass tower

the habitable core

the “rue interieur”

the “rue interieur”

the “proscenium” space

the treshhold stripe

private gardens

the “proscenium” space the boring staircase

the voyerist staircase

case

public square

the dark street the “rue interieur”

stair

building block 2 the treshhold stripe

the treshhold stripe

idden

building block 1

the outer world

109

the h

private gardens

public square

the treshhold stripe

tripe

the outer world

the outer world

the treshhold stripe

the t

Considering the amounts and the frequency of ordering products online on the Chinese market, an immense attention is given to organizing the logistics of delivery and self pickup of the goods. Today the situation is funny: the delivery services work amazingly fast and precise, although the methods used seem outdated and not automated. The pickup is another story - the products get delivered to the workplaces or to the apartment front doors - a pile of boxes waiting to be sorted by the recipients. Currently this works. But the further it goes the harder it will get to deal with this chaos.

Thus the whole level 0 is dedicated to the delivery, pick up and self-storage. This place is used not only by the residents of the house but also by the residents of the neighbourhood and those who work nearby. The road on the Southwest side of the building leads further to the area of unloading the goods. Here the courriers come with their choppers, motorbikes and bikes and load the goods to the sorting line, which brings the packs down and distributes further to the storage boxes.

When entering from the North one has the possibility to go up or down taking the stair or the elevator. Same from the South side - those who enter from the lower level have to cross the big hall and take the stair or the elevator. Those who enter from the street level can either go to the elevators area, or can take the lateral stair.

This is one of the objects placed in the treshhold between the habitable core and the outer cage. It connects the first few levels and offers a sequence of views to the dwelling. Taking this stair is like observing a series of activities happening in the dwelling from distance, from a “rear window”.

f6 f5 - a whole range of residential typologies present in Shanghai (author’s photograph) f6 - a shot from Hitchcock’s “Rear window”

110

Co-working level

N

0 1 2

111

5m

On the contrary to the lateral “voyerist� staircase, using the staircase in the main hall gives a sensation of being a part of everythig that happens in the house. This is a place where people meet, exchange greetings, stop for small talks. It is a place to see and to be seen.

Main hall - coworking space

112

Taking the stair one gets to the main hall. Again, as in the case of Venice, it is used for coworking and is the most crowded place of the house - the place which never sleeps. The living units and other facilities organized are organized around the main hall with their galleries facing it. The change of the railing material from the “construction site” (metal mesh) to the “traditional” (wood) indicates the transition from the more urban to the more domestic.

The living units are seen as traditional lilong houses - dwelling organized in a row with an alley in front of them. As in the lilongs, here also every living unit has its own private intermediate space between the “street” and the dwelling. This space is achieved by adding in front of every unit a platform, large enough to become usable. This space can be used as a prolongation of the entrance hall of the apartment, as an additional storage space, but first of all as a workspace or a living room - an asset that can be monetized easily. For instance, the inhabitants which have their units facing the coworking level and its mezzanine can provide an additional fixed desk for other or can have it for their own.

For most convenience and for a possible desire of privacy, there is a metal mesh curtain hanged at the edge of this “proscenium”. When closed, the space gets hidden from the strangers’ eyes.

1.

2.

1. curtain closed, doors closed, glass panels closed, ladder folded 2. curtain open, doors open, glass panels stacked to a side, ladder unfolded

113

The feeling of transition between the urban-public and the domestic private here is achieved again due to the hybrid use of materials: neon, textured glass, metal mesh, vinyl and acid colors in the common areas change into ceramics (of local production, ideally - recycled from somewhere), bronze, wood and paint in traditional colors.

Living unit seen from the coworking hall

114

115

The proscenium in its open state, coworking - fragmented into rooms

In the same way as the living units can be isolated with curtains, some areas of the coworking hall can be temporarily isolated by folding semitransparent partitions. This allows for a diversified use of space such as organizing events, workshops, mastercasses etc.

The proscenium closed, coworking as one united space

116

Contents

garden

wc

wc

wc

wc

tech-lab

brainstorming

co-working

silent-hubs

master-classes

living unit

117

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

Here, as in the case of Venice, all the spaces are to be furnished with objects of local design and production, with the addition of some universal design objects.

Coworking hall seen from the living unit “filter� space

118

Co-working mezzanine

N

0 1 2

119

5m

Contents

co-working

living unit

living unit

living unit

mini-kitchen

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

120

Foodcourt level

N

0 1 2

121

5m

The cells for the transient units here as in Venice are organized as semitransparent rooms which share in three one bathroom unit.

The semi-transparency is imposed for a certain amount of control - this being a place of a constant flow of different people for short times.

A view from the permanent unit towards the transient block

122

Contents

foodcourt

wc

living unit transients

living unit

transients transients

living unit

transients transients

living unit

123

common space

living unit

living unit

living unit

mini-kitchen

living unit

living unit

tech.room foodcourt

transients

living units living units tech.room

Foodcourt mezzanine

On the next level there comes another communal space, which is strictly dictated by the local habits. If in the case of Venice the cooking and dining were seen almost as a ritual, preparing the food in China is largely giving place to ordering it. Taking the meal instead of being seen as something that makes people come together and stay for some time, is seeen as an action to be performed quickly and with the maximal commodity. Thus this space is served and becomes a sort of a foodcourt.

It has people who work here and has a capacity of serving not only the inhabitants of the house, but also people who come to it to use its services (like the laundry or coworking) or simply people who live or work in the neighbourhood.

For those who still need to cook someting from time to time there are minikitchens on all levels. Those are equiped by everything needed to cook and to store products.

Again, all the transactions are done through the home app.

On the foodcourt level there is the first block of transient units. They are facing the permanent dwellers’ units behind the atrium, thus the guests can get an immage of what the house of the “locals� is, and the locals from the other side can observe all the coming-and-going of different travellers.

124

Laundry level

N

0 1 2

125

5m

Next is the most playfull level of the house. Here there is a bar with a huge terrace. On the South facade which is completely given to the “domestic� it is the only public interruption. On the opposite side of the atrium there is the laundry which is combined with games zone.

Laterally there are rows of living units. In order to protect the inhabitants from noise all the rooms are shifted back from the center and have bathrooms and storage systems serving as additional sound-proofing.

126

Contents

laundry& gamezone living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

bar

living unit

barterrace

127

living unit

living unit

Next to the most funny level there comes the most boring one. It consists of a series of row “houses” disposed around the central court and a “silent” room for study. A stripe of common spaces passes in front of the South block and serves as a dining area, cooking place and a communal living room. Also on this block the permanent residents are mixed with the transients in order to bring some activity to the life of the floor.

The South living blocks are all similar and have quite simple organization. The living space is practically one large room of a regular shape. Between the common areas and the livable rooms there is the entrance corridor from one side, the staircase to go to the upper level and a storage system with he bathroom block in the middle. The upper level is quite similar to the lower one and can be accessed also from the common space of its level. This allows for an autonomous use of the rooms - meaning it can be also be let to other persons. Otherwise one of the rooms can be used as a sleeping area and the other can be left free - for a living room, a studio, a rehearsal room or a mini-office.

The living units disposed on the other sides of the building are organized on one level and a bit differently, but anyway, with the same logic of protecting the habitable space from the common space with the block of services.

All the rooms are not only protected from the interior “streets”, but are also protected from the outside real streets by a loggia space. The side of the room facing the loggia is a full foldaway frameless glass door, thus when the panels are stacked to one side the space of the room gets united seamlessly with the space of the loggia resulting in a larger room. The outer side of the loggia, the one in direct contact with the outside is a folding door with a metal railing in front. This is adding another flexibility to the space, allowing to use it as a closed aerated space, as an open-air balcony.

The next two levels of the building start to have open air spaces for the public use.

The first level is the superdomestic one - it has the largest common use stripe and is an attraction point for all the people living in the house. Here, on the South wing, there is a large living lounge, the biggest communal kitchen and dining area as well as a space for kids. Between the South and North wings there are two playgrounds of different character.

On the next level over the common stripe there is a large rooftop garden. It is connected with the North wing with a lateral balcony suspended from the facade.

128

Boring level

N

0 1 2

129

5m

Contents

garden

transient living

living unit

common space

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

common space

living unit

living unit

dining area

living unit

living unit

communal kitchen

living unit

living unit

130

Superdomestic level

N

0 1 2

131

5m

Contents

library & study room

wc study-room transient living

transient living

transient living

open-air playground open-air kids playground

space for kids

living unit

living unit

communal living room

living unit

living unit

communal kitchen

living unit

living unit

132

Garden level

N

0 1 2

133

5m

Being the main space for meeting and working, the atrium had to be covered. It has a highly translucent lightweight ETFE cushion roof supported by steel structure spreads connected to each other.

The foil cushions effectively protect the the main hall and at the same time provide a clear view to the sky above.

Main hall cover seen from below

134

Contents

common space

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

terrace- garden

living unit

135

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

living unit

On the exterior the building doesn’t reveal immediately its being a dwelling. From some cells of the facade cage one can glimpse habitations, from some cuts one can see public spaces such as a bar, terraces and gardens. The others reveal common spaces, study and working halls etc.

136

Coming together

32.750 30.250

24.750

24.750

19.250

13.750

8.250

2.750 Âą0.000 -2.750 -5.500

0 1 2

137

5m

138

Moving

32.750 30.250

24.750

24.750

19.250

13.750

8.250

2.750 Âą0.000 -2.750 -5.500

0 1 2

139

5m

140

End of vol. III

P.S. The adopted design and aesthetical solutions are not meant to be imposed all over the network but are mere illustration of some common principles.

The call is anyway for acting locally while thinking globally.

Vol.III “The fun palace”

“Housing research”

Cedric Price, Joan Littlewood The Drama Review, 1968, 12.3: 127-134.

Cedric Price, article in Architectural Design 1971

Foucault, M. Architecture, mouvement, continuité, 5(1984), 46-49.

“The minimum dwelling”

“Bauen, wohnen, denken”.

Karel Teige MIT press, 2002.

Heidegger M. Universität Liechtenstein, 2011

“Privacy and publicity: modern architecture as mass media”.

“Intimacy and Spectacle: The Interiors of Adolf Loos.”

Adolf Loos, Рипол Классик, 1921.

Colomina Beatriz, with texts by Loos Adolf & Le Corbusier, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996.

Colomina, Beatriz. AA Files 20 (1990): 5-15.

“The un-private house”.

“Se Venezia muore”.

Riley T. New York : Museum of Modern Art, 1999

Settis S. Torino : Einaudi, 2014

“CIAM: Die Wohnung für das Existenzminimum”

Sigfried Giedion, Frankfurt: Englert & Schlosser, 1930.

“Ins Leere gesprochen”

“Of other spaces, heterotopias.”

“Zero to one: Notes on startups, or how to build the future”.

Thiel P. A., Masters B. Broadway Business, 2014

BIBLIO(SITO)GRAPHY “Dogville”

“The rear window”

Lars von Trier, 2003

Alfred Hitchcock, 1954

Life, Abstracted: Notes on the Floor Plan

“L’architettura dei luoghi domestici”.

Pier Vittorio Aureli

Cornoldi A., Cappettato G. Jaca Book, 1994

Palazzo Priuli Manfrin Sale announcement, “Invest in Italy Real Estate”

Palazzo Priuli Manfrin Patrimonio Pubblico Italia

S, M, L, XL: Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau Taschen, 1997.

Cronocaos

Rem Koolhaas, Log, 2011, 21: 119-123.

“Architettura e committenza nel primo Settecento veneziano: l’intervento di Andrea Tirali in palazzo Priuli Manfrin a Cannaregio (1724-1731)”.

Farinati V. Annali di Architettura, 1991, 3: 113-131.

“Shanghai homes: Palimpsests of private life.”

“Institutional Change and Urban Redevelopment Process: A Case Study of Changshoujie, Shanghai.”

“Property-led redevelopment in post-reform China: A case study of Xintiandi redevelopment project in Shanghai”.

Jie Li Columbia University Press, 2014.

Ze Li & others China City Planning Review, 2014, 23.1.

Shenjing He, Fulong Wu Journal of Urban Affairs, 2005, 27.1: 1-23.

FOR NOTES

Milano 2019