Common Life A research project by the LIAI
WE ARE: Nina Bäckström, Soumia Bouroucha, Epp Jerlei, Nina Larsson, Ibrahim Mahmood, Piotr Paczowski, Mohammad Hossein Rahmanian, Miguel Ros, Joshua Taylor, Rafaela Taylor, Ida Vänstedt. OUR TUTORS: Alberto Altés, Josep Garriga, [Oren Lieberman.] LiAi Autumn 2014
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1. An Overview Introduction Diagram Etc.
2. In Ume책 3. Alternative Ways Introduction Diagram Etc.
4. Case Studies
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4
01. An Overview
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The Widening Gap
“Today all Swedish mortgages combined are as much as 60% of the country’s GDP.” 6
Sweden has a housing shortage and the overcrowding has increased during the last decade. Dan Hallemar, editor-in-chief for the Swedish architectural magazine Arkitektur, writes in issue 7/2014 that the current housing situation in Sweden is a story about gaps. There is the obvious widening gap between how people live depending on their socio-economic affiliation: wealthy people live in large houses and poor people live in small houses. Also the gap between the price of a newly developed housing and what people can actually afford have increased. Those who cannot afford to buy a house are the ones that suffer the most. This group is often composed of young people (mostly students) who need a temporary dwelling and have lower standards for the quality of their housing. 25% of the total housing stock in Sweden (blocks of flats and single family houses included) was built during the “Million Programme” in the 1960s and ‘70s. The Million Programme was a state-run initiative to reduce the housing shortage and to enable people to access good quality housing at an affordable price. One million dwellings were built over a ten year period, all with subsidies from the Swedish state. Since then the construction of new housing has dropped considerably with the exception of two shorter periods of increased building, one during the late 1980s and one in the middle of the 2000s. Another effect of the Million Programme was that the group of building companies that were able to construct the large scale projects benefited from the subsidies. These companies today have a 72% share of the market and thus have a considerable influence over housing construction methods, housing types and the property market. A strategy often mentioned in the debate regarding the housing shortage is the so called “Moving-chain” (Flyttkedjan). The idea is that by
building (often exclusive) housing for older people that have the economic assets to afford a new flat, a chain of available housing will emerge as the old people’s old houses will be put up for sale. It is true that this group could afford these new houses: according to S.C.B. (The Swedish Statistics Bureau) 70% of all household assets belong to people that are 65 or older. The majority of the people in this group also live in small households, alone or together with a partner. However, at the same time this group are often unwilling to move because of their low housing cost in relation to their living conditions, tax-reductions such as RUT and ROT (big tax cuts for household services) and because of the tax for selling a house (on average 350 000 SEK for each sold single family house). This means that the actual target group for newly produced housing in Sweden is very small, and this group is pushing up prices on the few housing units up for sale.
A Failing Market Economy Extremely low interest rates combined with the shortage of new housing has made the price per unit sky-rocket. Over the last ten years house prices have increased in Sweden at the same rate as they did in Spain and Ireland before the 2008 crisis. The home is no longer seen as basic necessity but rather a commodity or investment. Swedish citizens are highly indebted, with high mortgages and for many, dropping house prices would mean a catastrophe. Today all Swedish mortgages combined are as much as 60% of the country’s GDP. The reason Sweden has not had a mortgage crisis is because the prices have mainly gone up because of the shortage, not because of speculation and a building boom. Despite the fact that some can make a good profit from buying and selling
their house, the average citizen is not the one benefiting from the situation. Even though they would earn from selling their house or apartment, they still need somewhere to live. However, someone is benefiting from this situation, otherwise we would not be in it! Ola Andersson identifies in his book Hitta Hem (“Finding a Home”) four groups that benefit from the housing shortage. The first group are the estate agents. They get commission for the housing they sell: the higher the price, the higher their profit. The second group are the banks, as they hand out the mortgages and earn money on the interest rates and fees. But they, at the same time, have to be careful as too high a mortgage level could lead to deflation. Stefan Ingves, governor of Sveriges Riksbank (the Swedish National Bank) has since the beginning of 2014 warned against the risk of an economic crisis caused by the high increase in housing prices as the average Swedish citizen’s mortgage is over 170% of their income.
The third group are the house builders that construct and sell housing projects. The lack of housing makes it possible for them to earn more on the houses they build. The last group Andersson mentions are the property owners that can claim more rent from their tenants because of the lack of competition. A reason often mentioned by the building companies in the discussion of the troublesome housing situation is that it is impossible to build housing so cheap that low income groups can afford to live there. The land costs and the planning processes of the municipalities are regarded as expensive and slow respectively. The labour cost is also said to be higher than the European average. At the same time the four biggest building companies are making big profits on their housing projects. JM, for example, had a profit of 18.8%
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for every sold flat in Stockholm during 2013. The high costs in relation to the high profits point to the problem being rather lack of competition among the building companies rather than slow planning processes. A Possible Alternative? It is clear that the goal of the current market economy (with a lack of competition) is not able to supply housing for all. It is working in the opposite way; by creating a shortage the same commodity can be sold to a much higher price. This has caused a few building companies acting as an oligarchy pushing up prices without solving the situation we are in, as they benefit by not doing so. The most valuable part of a building project is the land. Municipalities in Sweden have a planning monopoly, they describe and control the land use through zoning and in some regard they can also influence the developer and the design of the future building. Many municipalities are afraid of putting pressure on the developer, as they believe it would lead to there being no project in the end, a worry that is hard to understand when the need for new buildings is so great. The problem is that this behaviour doesn’t give us more ‘affordable’ housing, it only reinforces the current situation. The municipalities however have to be key players in resolving the situation and they have a unique ability to do so. Through their large ownership of land and their monopoly of planning they could encourage groups of citizens to build for themselves following the German model of Baugemeinschaft with the money they would otherwise use to bid over each other to buy existing, overpriced housing units. For instance, a very simple and easily digested alteration to the status quo that would emphasise co-operation and the idea of housing as necessity rather than a quickly-constructed commodity, could be that the municipalities set aside small pieces of land that are too small for the large build-
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ing companies and arrange competitions where the future residents form groups together with local building companies and architects. The municipality could, by arranging a competition, define how they wish the building would function within the neighbourhood and the residents would have the possibility to work with the architects and other players to decide the cost and standard they wish for their housing.
Books Andersson, Ola. Hitta Hem - Stockholm och bostadsbristen. Ort: Förlag, 2014. Journals: Hallemar, Dan “Bostadsglappen måste fyllas.” Arkitektur 7 (2014): 33-34. Statistiska Centralbyrån. Bostads- och byggnadsstatistik årsbok 2012. Örebro: SCB-Tryck, 2012. Accessed October 30, 2014 .http://www.scb.se/statistik/_publikationer/BO0801_2012A01_BR_BO01BR1201. pdf. Articles Lucas, Dan, and Schück, Johan. “Ingves kritisk till svenskars bolån.” Dagens Nyheter, January 3, 2014. Accessed January 2, 2015.http://www.dn.se/ekonomi/ingveskritisk-till-svenskars-bolan/. Nylander, Jan. “Sverige slår rekord i byggpriser.” Sveriges Television, May 5, 2013. Accessed January 2, 2015.http:// www.svt.se/nyheter/ekonomi/stora-vinster-bakom-hoga-byggpriser. Websites Sveriges Byggindustrier. “30 största byggföretagen i Sverige 2013.” Accessed November 10, 2014.https://www.sverigesbyggindustrier.se/UserFiles/Files/ Marknad/30_storsta_byggforetagen_i_ sverige_2013.pdf.
C O N S T E L A T I O N S
F A M I LY
140.000
1 ADULT + CHILDREN 105.000
O F
T E N U R E
20
30
750.000
1.500.000
2 ADULTS
2 ADULTS + CHILDREN
35.000
AGE
F O R M
1 ADULT
OTHER 70.000
40
50
60
70
80
90
ÄGANDERÄTT (PRIVATLY OWNED)
RENTAL 2ND HAND
2.250.000
BOSTADSRÄTT (CO-OWNED)
RENTAL
3.000.000
Family constallations and Form of tenure by age, during 2012. Family constallations change during a persons lifetime but the form of tenure does not. This indicates that most people stay in their old home when their children moved out.
OTHERS 28%
JM 7%
PEAB 34%
NCC 22% SKANSKA 20%
The four biggest building companies in Sweden together hold 83% of the market.
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( t h o s u n d s )
P O P U L A T I O N
1960
( t h o s u n d s )
HOUSEHOLDS
1980
1990
2000
2005
10.000 9.000 8.000 > 65
7.000 6.000 5.000
>17<65 4.000 3.000 2.000 <17
1.000
S
W
E
D
rented
1.000 2.000
owner occupied
3.000
cooperative
4.000 5.000
1960
10
1970
1970
1980
1990
2000
2005
T=16.805
14%
2010
2011
2012
T=10.148
2013 T=9.644 63%
19%
T=5.655
23%
T=5.451
20%
18%
62%
63%
57%
61%
23% 20%
20%
32%
SWEDEN
41%
NETHERLANDS
N
FINLAND
E
19%
DENMARK
18%
2030 projection
44% 49% 68%
38%
10% T=2.680
42%
T=2.784
18% T=4.503 58%
2010
2011
2012
2013 T=7.107
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Swedish Peculiarities: Swedish housing situation in relation to the EU.
_ 2nd lowest population density: 22 inhab/km2 [inhab/km2] FINLAND 17 _ SPAIN 80 _ GERMANY 230 _ LUXEMBOURG 485
_ 2nd most dependent population: 34% [%] FRANCE 35 _ SPAIN 32 _ POLAND 30 _ SLOVAKIA 28
_ Most people living alone: 43% [%] DENMARK 38 _UNITED KINGDOM 29 _ GREECE 21_ SPAIN 18
_ 1st in asylum applications received: 36,205 [000s] FRANCE 29 _ ITALY 14 _ NETHERLANDS 7 _ FINLAND 1.5
_ 2nd in co-operatively owned dwellings: 18% [%] POLAND 24 _ CZECH REPUBLIC 17 _ DENMARK 7 _ FINLAND_0
_ 2nd lowest number of vacant conventional dwellings: 1.7% [%] NETHERLANDS 1.5 _ GERMANY 8 _ SPAIN 22 _ GREECE 33
_ 2nd lowest housing costs as share of total household consumption: 28% [%] FINLAND 17 _ SPAIN 80 _ GERMANY 230 _ LUXEMBOURG 485
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THE VOICE OF THE ARCHITECTS: The Swedish Architect´s Association on Housing in Sweden STATEMENTS _ Financial importance Housing takes nearly a third of citizens’ economic resources
_ Needs to change New ways of life demand new housing types to support them
_ Equality in accessibility and affordability Market and purchasing power define housing production which undermines economically weaker groups
PROPOSALS _ More discussion about the housing situation _ Special effort in affordable housing _ Launch research programmes _ Improve young adults’ housing situation _ Launch competitions and fairs _ Undertake sustainable production _ Increase the variety of actors involved
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The Million Programme: Context and History
The Million Programme The initiative was created by the Swedish government of the period, the Swedish Social Democratic Party, with standardised construction requirements, disregarding the locations of the projects, as number, rather than architectural merit was key.
As the name suggests, the project was to build one million new homes, in a nation with a population of eight million at the time. One housing policy measure implemented was the introduction of a housing subsidy for families with children.
Postwar Boom: Sweden’s industry and business expand rapidly.
Labour migration from Finland, Yugoslavia and Italy means Sweden’s population increases from 6.7m to 7.8m.
The rent regulations introduced in 1942 was indefinitely retained, giving support for new housing. Contracts were increasingly given to the municipal housing companies that were supposed to work without a profit motive.
The increased population from immigration, in concert with the baby boom of the 1940s, reached the housing market during the 1960s. Metropolitan areas had queues for housing of up to ten years.
1945
During World War II almost all residential building stopped and a housing shortage arose across the country.
1965
Government presents a vision for a new housing policy.
Despite the house building programme in the 1950s, with an average of 50,000 new houses built a year, it is not enough to sate the need.
House Hunting in Umeå: Too Many Fish in The Sea Emergency Housing office Helps new students at the University who are in urgent need of accommodation at the beginning of the semester. Bo i Bjurholm Bjurholms municipality provides housing within the municipality and manages 178 flats. The stock has now been expanded with 11 houses for rent. Bo i Vindeln Has more than 250 flats in places like Vindeln Tvärålund, Grano and Hällnäs. Bo i Vännäs Owns properties in Vännäs, Vännäsby and in Tväråbäck and manages approximately 400 rental flats. Boporten Estate agents. Bostaden Umeå public housing company with approximately 15,000 flats and 5,000 student rooms, with a queue system. Bostadsportal.se Site with advertisements for rental hous-
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ing in Umeå. Bovision.se Rental properties and new construction to buy. ERA(Electronic Realty Associates) : Is one of the largest estate agent chains in the world. ERA established its first office in Sweden in 2000. Hemnet Sweden’s most popular site for finding accommodation, and envy. hittadinbostad.se Flatshare mediation for students. Hyresbostaden.se Gathering place for flats available for rent. Kvalster.se Searching engine for rental housing in Umeå Ledigalägenheter.com All the big landlords in Sweden Lägenhetsportal.se Portal with links to similar properties Lägenheter24 Flat listing aggregator.
Lundgrens fastighetsbyrå Vännäsby estate agents. Mäklarhuset Estate agent with offices in Umeå. Mäklarringen estate agent with offices in Umeå. NCC Building and property company offering accommodation in Umeå. Nordmalingshus Municipal housing company with 336 apartments in Nordmalingsfjärden. Norrhus fastighetsbyrå Estate agent with offices in Nordmalingsfjärden. Privatmäklaren Internet-based estate agents. Skandiamäklarna Estate agent with offices in Umeå. Svensk fastighetsförmedling Estate agent with offices in Umeå Swedbanks fastighetsbyrå Estate agent with offices in Umeå.
Ownership of Housing in Sweden Hyresrätt A tenure of a dwelling or other premises where a tenant permanently rent the dwelling or premises of a landlord. In Umea: Bostaden or private companies.
Bostadsrätt The dweller buys a share in the housing association in order to obtain the right to an apartment. The dweller pays a fee to the association for common expenses. The dweller needs the associations permission if wanting to sublet the apartment. The shares in the housing association is bought and sold at market value. HSB, Riksbyggen or individual associations. These are mostly blocks of flats but can also apply to terraced houses.
Äganderätt An apartment which is owned by the dweller. Kvarteret (“The Quarter” - flats on top of the new “Utopia” shopping mall) as well as detached houses and terraced houses on the ground.
Kooperativ hyresrätt The housing cooperative is an association with members. The cooperative rents a block of apartments of a landlord and therefore sets the individual rents for the apartments. The dweller pays a fixed price in order to obtain the right to rent a dwelling within the cooperative which is reimbursed when moving out. Elderly housing in Obbola called Trappan; some flats in Röbäck.
Can we live better? 15
Röbäck
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Ersboda
02. Ume책
Alidhem
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Bostaden Points System and Rents
2 bedrooms 60m2
3 bedrooms 76m2
4 bedrooms 101m2
1A Flat points Number of rooms (2 rooms =40, 3 rooms = 44, 4 rooms = 49) + Area
1B
Correction points +/- system of comparison to a ‘standard flat’
2A
Building/property standards 100 points for comparison to the standards
2B Building/property standards, correction points +/- system of comparison to a ‘standard flat’
2C
Neighbourhood and distance to grocer’s/supermarket
40+60=
100
44+76=
120
150
49+101=
6
1
-3
100
100
100
15
3
-2
8
8
21
4
-1
1
100x127=12700 + 6x100=600
120x110=13200 + 1x100=100
150x120=1800 + -3x100=-300
=13300
=13300
=17700
2D Environment Traffic safety Noise Air pollution Parking Accessibility Common spaces and facilities Waste management Aesthetics.
Sum 1A x (2B+2C+2D) + 1B x 2A
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The rent of a specific flat is dependent on the total stock of the housing company. The rent is set according to standards such as kitchen type, bathroom standards, placement within the building and location in the city. These are all subjective values that might not be of the same importance to all tenants. Example of things considered Lift Placement within the building Balcony Location of balcony Appliances Taps Single function rooms Disturbances from surrounding facilities
Example of things considered Housing type Sound insulation Ventilation Laundry facilities Kitchen standard Bathroom Window standard Construction Television connection Internet connection
The total amount of rental income for the company is set in negotiation among various parties.
The sum agreed upon is then divided by the total number of points in the flats owned by the company, generating a so called ‘pointsvalue’.
The points-value multiplied by the points of a specific flat equals the total rent/year.
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Ålidhem
— “No-one can live here” — “I would never go out at night” — “Ålidhem is the best place to live” — “It’s good both for us and the children”
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Ålidhem is a model Million Programme area, built between 1966 - 1973 as a new district adjacent to the developing Umeå University. Since then, it is the most popular student housing district in the city and ‘corridors’ make nearly half of the total properties available. 87% of all flats are rented and owned by Bostaden.
Population:
6000 No. Units: 4554
1
5
1
3
1
2
2
3
1
0
0
?
3
4
Percentage of Owned Properties 0
100
Average Price per m2 per year:
1011SEK/month Number of Bostaden Properties: 3969 No. of Bostaden Properties with different number of rooms:
1965 302
1
2
784
589
3
4
328
5
No. of rooms:
Modernist thought The school of thought that shaped Ålidhem is still very present after almost 50 years, and a lot of architecture is preserved in its initial state. A few roof extensions were added over the years to add floor area to the lowest buildings.
Ålidhem is located on a hill, 3 km from the city centre and very close to the University Campus. The district is connected by a very good system of bicycle paths.
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Events that changed Ålidhem
The struggle for Dungen in 1977, photo Lars-Åke Stomfelt
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1900
The area of Ålidhem was mostly covered in forest and used as pasture for cattle by farmers in Teg, who took the cattle there by boat. Kolbäcken ran through Ålidhem and was good for fishing.
1910
Saw mills and factories in the Strömpilen area caused the stream Kolbäcken to be dammed for electricity. At this time there were 10,000 inhabitants in Umeå.
1920 1936 1950 1957 1965
Housing for the factory workers was built in Sofiehem and Gimonäs. The Court of Appeal was placed in Umeå. Umeå had 22,000 inhabitants. Umeå Hospital opened. Today, it is today the biggest employer in Umeå. Umeå University opened. 47,000 inhabitants in Umeå. Ålidhem is built with the aim of housing 8,500 people, of which 3,500 will be students. The student houses were completed first and are closest to the university; the other blocks were started in 1969 as part of the Million Programme. 2-4 storey houses in red brick, designed from SCAFT principles. Kolbäcken was dug down into a culvert. They were completed in 1974.
1970
Umeå: 12% work in manufacturing – 45% work in administration Other swedish cities: 32% work in manufacturing – 27% work in administration
1973 1974
Ålidhem church is built Brännbollsyran, a yearly event in May, started as an attempt to stop the unofficial parties at Fysik gränd: “Fysikgrändsfesten”. The plan had the opposite effect though and the parties at Fysikgränd reached an all-time high in the 1990s.
1977
The struggle of Dungen. The municipality wanted to remove a small wood centrally placed in Ålidhem to build a school. The children of the area protested: it was their playground! Many thousands joined the fight, occupying the wood, demonstrating and proposing alternative locations for the school. In the end the uprising was stopped by the police and the school was built on the planned site.
1990
Additional floors and pitched roofs are added on some of the buildings in Ålidhem, for example in Pedagoggränd.
2008
Three buildings with 70 flats at Geografigränd burned down on Christmas Eve. Claimed to be the biggest fire since 1888 when the whole city burned down. The fire, along with Umeå’s appointment as European Capital of Culture 2014 triggered the development of the area.
2009
Bostaden has a dialogue with the inhabitants in Ålidhem about how the area is perceived and how it can develop. One discussion concerned what to do with the former Youth House. The outcome was the culture house Klossen. A pilot scheme for renovating houses sustainably in Matematikgränd is commenced. Lidl built a store in the Ålidhems Centrum car park, which caused protests. It stood empty for two years until Lidl finally opened in 2013.
2010
The project “Sustainable Ålidhem” starts, which is a way of renovating the area and at the same time re-branding it as ‘sustainable’. The critics claim that it is only a way of gentrifying the area. The new school Kolbäcksskolan is built at the location suggested by the inhabitants in 1977. A mosque starts to be constructed. Apart from a prayer hall the programme also included a gym hall and a library. For financial reasons the project was never completed and the plot was returned to the municipality in 2014. The population in Ålidhem increased from 5,492 to 6,147 people between 2001-2010.
2011
New Geografigränd is built: four buildings with 137 apartments in 3-5 stories, in line with the Sustainable Ålidhem project. Renovation of Språkgränd is begun.
2012
The eastern part of the ring road is complete including Kolbäcksvägen, framing the south-eastern parts of Ålidhem.
2014
The Common Park at Ålidhem Centrum is built by the inhabitants, as the municipality did nothing about it. Renovation of the old Ålidhem school begins, it is going to be converted into a health centre, open pre-school and small associations.
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Future Plans for Ålidhem
The municipality has since 2009 had plans to redo most of the green areas in Ålidhem, possibly as part of the project “Sustainable Ålidhem”. Some of the plans have been realised since, while some have not. One example of the latter is the proposed park next to Ålidhem Centrum. A group of local inhabitants took the matter in their own hands renovating it themselves in a week in May 2014, resulting in the Common Park of Ålidhem. Some of the municipality’s plans for the parks are also currently in conflict with some proposed new detail plans in the area, for example the suggested apple grove next to Socionomstråket will likely turn into a three storey building instead. 1. Medicinarstråket A better place for the bigger trees Replace sick or damaged trees Replace playground with a beach volleyball court and boule area Create more green areas More seating
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Perennial plants underneath the trees 2. Docentvägen Find and keep specific trees Lawns become a meadow 3. Ålidhem Centrum Turn the park towards Ålidhem centrum Increase the spatial qualities (?) Make a level open activity space Expose rock where the soil is shallow Different types of ‘nice’ seating 4. Odontogistråket Enhance the birch trees (?) Perennial plants underneath the trees Teeth inspired playthings Decrease area of asphalt Football field gets grass and spatial partitions 5. Thermal Power Station The stream is made visible Pedestrian path is moved and the culde-sac is decreased Different types of grass surfaces Skateboard park?
6. Football Field Wall against sound pollution from Kolbäcksvägen Keep the vegetation against Kolbäcksvägen New pedestrian and cycle track 7. Socionomstråket Emphasise the path between the trees Increase the spatial qualities in the backyards by adding vegetation (?) Increase diversity with fruit trees and flowers Create a new park and apple grove Decrease asphalted areas 8. Elevstråket Meadow instead of lawn Cut diagonal paths for pedestrian use Playthings in the middle Old playthings are renovated and reused within the area 9. Studentvägen Decrease the depth of the ditch next to the cycle path Meadow instead of lawn A row of trees along the cycle path for spatial quality
Detail plans in process
Magistern 1 Purpose: Eight buildings containing mostly small flats and garages. Client: AB Bostaden Status: Planning begun 24/09/14
2.
5.
Sofiehem 2:4
4.
Purpose: Supermarket and parking spaces. Client: COOP Status: Planning begun 19/11/14
1.
3.
Laboratorn 2 6.
7.
Purpose: A three storey building with housing and offices for the Social Services. The site used to have a nursery which is now demolished. Client: Land and Development Status: Approved 21/05/14 Appealed 26/06/14
Sofiehem 2:1 and 2:2
8.
9.
Purpose: 30 terraced houses in three stories. Enable moving within the area. Improve the public space. Client: ? Status: Planning begun 19/03/14
Professorn 2 Purpose: Complement current housing stock Client: AB Bostaden Status: Planning not begun
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The Corridor  The environment in which we live can contribute to create identity and meaning in everyday life. The physical surroundings are part of a process where people seek connection and create beliefs about themselves and their situation. The architecture of Ă&#x2026;lidhem was created according to the ideal of functionalism and the district consists of rightangled, red faced brick buildings.
The corridorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design is made according to an engineering system, where space obeys the structure, or is modelled by the building structure. We were interested, in this case, in common life and how the students were sharing their rooms along the corridor. Except for the laundry room, the living room and the kitchen, the corridor itself is more than just an access route - it is also a shared area appropriated by students.
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Historiegränd 14 The buildings were simple and smooth without ornamentation on their façades. Historiegränd is a street of housing with a kitchenette in the rooms. In 1996 a wooden extension was built, connecting the two blocks, giving birth to a transitional space which is used as a kitchen and a flat for an allergic person.
It also contains corridors that students share with other residents. As each room has its own kitchenette and the corridor has 20 rooms, which is longer than the other, it generates social isolation and unused areas completely abandoned by the residents and used only as a way to their flats. Our interest here was in how can we rethink this corridor so it becomes a place for social interaction.
As a hypothesis, we propose that the corridor here is not used because it is an open space to the street with a large window, and also that it is designed purely as circulation space for the building so has little privacy, We also suppose that it could be a cultural issue knowing that residents are from multifarious different places and backgrounds, so it can be difficult to perform common functions to meet new people like eating or cooking in a buffer space.
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Kitchen Intravention The idea of this intervention was to occupy the transition space that is at present exploited as a secondary kitchen, but rarely used by residents. This area is supposed to be the meeting point for the two corridors of the floor, but also for the one on the ground floor. We wanted to encourage people to stay in this area and socialise, so thought of a storage module that could be adapted by the users. Since the kitchen does not possess storage, nobody keeps anything there which limits the possibility for staying around the area.
We thought of making a modular box system with dimensions 45 x 45cm, with an opening on one side. The kitchen/corridor meeting point also has a large window on the street, with a good view of things happening outside, and a fine spot for people-watching, but except for the transit of residents, was scarcely used.
Therefore we thought that the module could also be used as a chair, or assembled to become table or bar for instance, thus finding ways of inviting residents to occupy and use this under-utilised area.
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“...a fine spot for people watching...”
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A cure for cold and darkness? Exploring an invisible layer of Ålidhem housing.
Overview Ålidhem is known to be the biggest student residential area in Umeå, yet it is home to a greater variety of habitants than any other. The district has 12 residential zones, built mostly through the '60s and '70s, with only a few additions in the '90s. They are grouped around Ålidhems Centrum, which performs the most crucial commercial and social functions. Each of the residential zones is equipped with some common and shared rooms and services. The scope for sharing depends on the type of flat and the specific building. Students living in single rooms share a corridor and kitchen, which they need to maintain collectively. In bigger flats, the space shared every day is the staircase, maintained by the landlord. In each building, or at least neighbourhood, depending on the standard, there is also a shared laundry facility, which is available for booking using a paper list or a digital interface. There are also recycling stations adjacent to the buildings, normally located around the car parks. Bicycle sheds are also available, sometimes locked, especially in the newer facilities like Geografigränd or Labora-
30
torvägen. The locked ones seem to be used less than the ones which are open. All those facilities are available using a system "master” key or an RFID token. The way that the shared facilities are managed seems to depend on the individual Bostaden landlord, and the differences are visible in the style of communication on the noticeboards. The corridors, shared kitchens, laundry rooms, even rubbish collection points, all tell very interesting stories about their owners and users. It is possible to read, that despite operating in a reasonable way, there is a lot of room for improvements. It is worth questioning what is "progress”, especially with the emergence of digital interfaces and the results of the undertaken renovation. There is an overall impression of dispersed responsibility, visible in the everyday operation and investments. Abandoned bicycles are filling up the sheds; a pile of advertisments is ever-present in the entrance and the storage rooms are typically neglected. Furthermore, there are few places for meeting any of your neighbours if you don’t know them already.
Fysikgränd Laboratorvägen Kemigränd
ÅLIDHEM CENTRUM
Pedagoggränd
Stipendiegränd Historiegränd Magistervägen Spräkgränd
Biologigräand
Kandidatvägen
Geografigränd Matematikgränd
1. Zones of Ålidhem and different ways to communicate about saunas.
Involvement Following my interest and intuition, I decided to direct the investigation towards something less explored - the sauna. I am quite an enthusiast of sauna bathing, which is known to be a nordic custom and I expected to use it when in Sweden. I have previously been in three saunas in Ålidhem, but always invited by my friends. This year, I live in one of the corridors at Stipendiegränd, so I had the opportunity to experience the booking process on my own. There is a sauna avaialble in each of the residential zones. They are available to book via a designated contact person, whose details are available at the sauna door or the notice boards at building entrances. When I started the project in November, there was a telephone number provided on a small piece of paper at the sauna door. This already requires that one knows the sauna exists and where the entrance is, in order to make a booking.
The prcess was rather smooth and the sauna responsible was very friendly. I met him at his door, where he gave me the key saying I can keep it overnight, as he only needs it back at 2 p.m. the next day and that I can return it to his postbox any time. I needed to sign my name and contact details on a list, which had Bostaden's logo and only four preceding entries, though it was already three months into the term. He asked if I knew how to turn it on, and I'm sure he would offer his help if needed. However, I have only seen him once, because when I attempted to make a booking for 4th of December, he surprisingly replied that he was no longer co-ordinating the bookings, and I should contact the landlord, which I did immediately after. At Bostaden's office, they informed me that there is already a new sauna responsible and I can find the contact details on the door. I asked why the previous one decided to leave, and heard that "he was no longer interested”. This could have been the turning point of the project, as becoming a sauna responsible would
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2. One key system: main entrance, corridor, room, laundry, recycling house A new RFID access system is being introduced for the main entrance and corridor doors. However, this does not apply to the sauna. give me much more flexibility to act, organise events and make some architectural improvements. In that case, I could only contact the new keyholder. I wanted to book it for the next day and he replied: "Sure, the Sauna is available. You're going to have personal responsibility for any damage caused or items missing. You don't have to clean the sauna with 100% perfection after you've used it. But leave it in the same condition as it was when you got there! The Sauna will be available for you between 17.00 - 22.00, but you have to decide at which time you're going to pickup and return the keys and e-mail me the answer today.” I found this answer unnecessarily stiff and over-structured. It's not quite the intention of any sauna user to cause damage or make items missing. As we were staying at school after hours, I didn't make the booking for the 4th and on Friday the 5th attempted to book it for the same day. The reply was that it's fully booked for the weekend, and there may be an opening on Sunday, and in that case he would contact me again, which didn't happen. Finally, we've organised to meet on December 16th, at a
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very precise time, in front of his building. What was a big surpirse to me was that the monthly list where I was signing my name in was empty the previous days. The sauna responsible was extremely precise and said I could have the key for three hours, or rather 2 hours 45 minutes, as he needs 15 minutes to check it before 10 p.m. after I've used it. I returned the key as arranged and I'm sure he didnt't check it as he said. The atmosphere of control and distrust was a big surprise. Experience The entrance to the sauna is at the side of 8A Stipendiegränd. It leads downstairs and then left into the basement of the building. There are two saunas avaialble, and both are fully operational. The one which is used more nowadays is the small one on the left side, which can hold up to 6 people. The bigger one for around 15 people has an unpleasant smell, most probalby originating from the floor drain which dries out because of lack of use. The lights turn on automatically as one enters, and have been replaced recently. Apart from that there are no signs of any recent upgrades or fixes. The place is not necessarily enjoyable, possibly because of its substandard underground location and general derelict feeling. I still remeber the awkward impression that it will be dark outside once I go out, even though I was there around midday.
Sauna User’s Manual In order to use the available sauna, there are a few prerequisites: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Knowing that the sauna exists Getting the number from the door Contacting the key holder Arranging the time Receiving the key Knowing how to switch everything on Explaining to your friends where to find the entrance 8. Using the sauna 9. Returning the key 10. Repeating? It seems to be over-complicated and not supporting the basic idea of relaxation.
3. Entrance to the sauna, difficult to find if not marked.
Sauna responsible 1 November 2014, text messages
Sauna responsible 2 December 2014, e-mails
Hej Erik! I’m Piotr from Stipendiegränd 12A and I’m interested in the sauna one day next week. Is it possible? Are there many days when it’s available?
Hej Mattias, my name is Piotr from Stipendiegränd 12A. I’d like to book the sauna for tomorrow evening (Thursday, December 4th), is it possible?
Hej! Anyday except wednesday is available Sure, the Sauna is available. You’re going to have personal responsibility for any damage caused or items missing. You don’t have to clean the sauna with 100% perfection after you’ve used it. But leave it in the same condition as it was when you got there!
Can you book me for Thursday in that case? Sure! Come by after 4 o’clock for the key. My adress is stipendiegränd 5e. Text me before and make sure I’m home.
The Sauna will be available for you between 17.00 - 22.00, but you have to decide at which time you’re gonna pickup and return the keys and e-mail me the answer today.
OK, thanks! Have a nice weekend! --Hej, that’s Piotr again with the sauna business. Is there one sauna down there or two maybe? See you tomorrow, P. Hello! There are two saunas, but I don’t know if the bigger one works. I finish work around four tomorrow, come by after that to get the key!
--Hej hej! Is the sauna available as early as today? It seems we’ve reached a decision with my friends that it’s a good idea ;) If not today, how are the possibilities this weekend?
Perfect, thanks! --Hej, I’m back home. Where can we meet for the key? Hej! You can come by stipendiegränd 5e, 108, E. Karlsson. Ok, on my way!
It’s fully booked for the weekend unfortunately, though it may be an opening at this sunday. Was a guy that made a “reservation” but he’s supposed to get back to me tomorrow morning at the latest with answer if he wants it or not! If not i’ll contact you! :) I’m interested an booking the sauna for Tuesday, December 16th and possibly one more time earlier. Is it possible? What are the openings available now? I hope we can make it this time ;)
--I’ve left the sauna key in your letter box. Thanks and see you, Piotr
Hello again, it is available this week (not the weekend though) and it is available The 16th aswell :) Thanks, have a nice weekend!
Hej! Is it possible to book the sauna for tomorrow, 4th Dec? All best, Piotr Hej! Unfortunatelly I am no longer in charge of the sauna bookings. If you are still interested, contact the landlord. Have a nice evening! OK, thanks! Have a nice evening too!
Hej! Thanks for a quick reply! After consulting my friends we decided not to take a sauna tomorrow, as some of the school stuff may extend into the evening... So, till next time!
Perfect, then I’d like to book Thursday 11th and Tuesday 16th :) Let me know how do we arrange to collect the keys. Sure, you have to pick them up at stipendiegränd 4C after 17.00 and leave them before 22.00, we’ll make an specific arrangement for both days! Hej, Can I get the key around 19h00? How do we arrange? Meet me at Stipendiegränd 4C 19.00. You’ll have to return the keys before 22.00
4. Record of the text message and email exchange with the sauna responsibles.
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7,380
3,330
2,320
2,310
9
12,900
SMALL SAUNA 4 sauna for 9 people 5 changing room 6 showers 7 toilet BIG SAUNA 8 sauna for 15 people 9 showes 10 changing room 11 toiled for disabled 12 toilet
10
11
14
3
12
2
1
1,600
entrance stairs corridor big room (95 sqm, 3m height)
7
13 "gym" 14 technical room
3,350 35
1 2 3
5,300 3
8
5 13
6 1,940
4
7,380
1,220 ,
2,030
5. Detailed exploration: Stipendiegr채nd sauna.
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3,490
1,200
6. Style Wars: a bomb shelter may not offer the best sauna experience.
Vision Using a sauna requires pressing a 3h-timer on the wall and then adjusting the temperature and timer on the sauna heater. It takes around one hour to preheat before it's ready to use. There are no instructions available inside, so one must know this beforehand. Another important part which is missing is a nice area to lie and relax after bathing but before dressing up. Problem When living in Ålidhem, the variety of people one may come across is less than impressive, possibly limited to the ones sharing one corridor. Also, there is a constant pace of moving in and out, so as far as the common spaces are concerned, the residents may not have time or motivation to invent and organise their own ways of using the common spaces, like the laundry or sauna. Most residents are not even aware that there is a sauna to use, free of charge, because of a complete lack of information. Moreover, the booking system seems to be overcomplicated and wrong, in a sense, that it is not possible to meet a fellow neighbour, who would gladly share the sauna time with another, just because the booking is anonymous and only possible as "fully booked”, though there are up to 24 places available at once. Furthermore, Stipendiegränd seems to be somewhat forgotten even within the other parts of Ålidhem. There are very few trees, rather unimpressive lighting and it seems to be the best place mostly for lovers of pure vintage modernism and fine brickwork. When the "Autumn Light Festival", as Bostaden calls it, took place, the temporary installations have been placed in 8 locations, but none of them around Stipendiegränd. The comments below, which someone wrote on the poster in a laundry room, reflect very neatly that Stipendiegränd seems to be neglected, with no significant improvements arriving with the ongoing renovation.
The saunas at Stipendiegränd (and other areas) could operate in a very different way. The common spaces should be not only competentely coordinated by Bostaden, but also co-organised with a group of residents, with certain defined goals, tools and communication methods. Nowadays, everyone has an internet-connected life, so the information about the sauna and the booking system should be in the first place available online.
WHAT? y rkandcreep a d n a p ip t s #keep 7. A resident's comment on a poster of Autumn Light Festival organised by Bostaden. The saunas could be working every day, so that the residents could join any time, which would allow some meetings and conversations which were not possible before. The small sauna would be also avaialble for bookings, and then accessible with the RFID token to ensure the desired privacy. The system would be managed in close co-operation with students and residents, open to the feedback from the users. Bostaden could one day renovate the spaces responding to the actual needs and collected feedback. As the underground location seems to be far from ideal, it may also be a good idea to invest in a new facility as a "selling point” for the student housing, saying: "Hey, we
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S A U N A / MO V E M E N T SA U / MNA O V M E EN
8. Logo/identity design. have a rooftop sauna for our residents, isn’t it where you actually want to live?”
T
A UNV E S AMO NT / ME
9. The saunas would certainly be better above the ground. residents. A unified solution for open sauna meetings could also be worked out in the whole district of Ålidhem.
Realisation attempt Based on these observations, I tried to approach the situation with an event named Sauna/Movement. The name is a direct translation of the “Bastu/Motion”, a small badge placed on the door, which is impossible to see unless you’re standing just in front of the door. In order to inform and connect an abstract idea with a concete place, I've started with placing a glowing cube on top of the entrance to the sauna. The box was emitting a soft light for the poorly lit area of Stipendiegränd and providing an identity for the place, grabbing attention and directing it to the actual content of the room underground. The box was placed there without asking for permission, but left with a message about the project, contact details, energy consumption of the light, termination date and some new year's wishes. It was connected to the socket on the second floor, where one of the residents allowed me to carry out the installation. The next step would be to organise an open event and invite all the residents of Stipendiegräand to explore and share some time to relax in the available, but hidden, facility. It would be a great opportunity to gather some feedback about their needs and opinions on the life in Ålidhem. The event would be using the same identity, which people would already recognise and relate to the place. With that information, it could be easier to report to Bostaden and try to work out some solution together. I would gladly help to create a framework and the communication needed to make it happen, and the further management could be co-ordinated by a few more interested
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10. Event survey: a base to set a community.
11. Intervention: brings light, grabs attention.
Consequences
Conclusion
For now, the after-effects have been a bit off the plan. The ďŹ rst reactions after placing the box seemed to be good, with people looking, stopping by, checking the card on the door and taking pictures. It was left as it was over the Christmas break. However, during this time the contact information disappeared form the door and on January 7th the box was unplugged and moved from the roof to the ground, presumably by Bostaden.
The idea of a Sauna/Movement can be best tested by holding an event and gathering enough feedback from the interested actors. The contact information could have been removed from the door because of the increased interest and e-mails from people who want to use the sauna. That would mean that the interest is satisfactory to reorganise the booking system and place the infrastructure that allows people to meet and share into the official development goals of Bostaden. There are still questions to be answered, and I hope to ďŹ nd out more after this text has been printed. 08/01/14
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Ersboda
“(...) an independent district, like a village, on the outskirts of the city of Umeå”
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The master plan of Ersboda was designed after a survey was undertaken of the large housing queues in Umeå. In the design, a close connection to nature was one thing that was taken in consideration. The survey was an experiment in creating a more democratic planning process where an exchange with the future inhabitants would be established.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Population:
10 000 No. Units: ?
1
+50
1
4
2
1
+30
8
3
0
1
+50
5
9
Percentage of Owned Properties 0
100
Average Price / sqm and year
900SEK Number of Bostaden Properties: 1183
1:40 000 Ersboda is the largest housing area in Umeå and, being planned and built in the 1980s, it is also one of the youngest. Ersboda is three kilometres north of the city center; the southern part consists of shopping malls, small industries and office buildings which host local companies and national agencies such as the migration office.
No. of Bostaden Properties with different number of rooms: 2000
1500
1000
The shopping area, built to be accessed by car, creates a wide barrier that cuts off Ersboda from the rest of central Umeå. This, in addition to the wide range of services available in Ersboda (such as Folkets Hus) creates a feeling of Ersboda being an independent district, like a village, on the outskirts of the city of Umeå.
500
0
1R&K
2R&K
3R&K 3R&K
5R&K
Single
Ersboda Folkets Hus has a lot of activities and associations connected to it. Folkets Hus also contains the local library, an important meeting space in the area. Every week, dances, film screenings and lectures are held in Folkets hus. Seasonal activities are also arranged, such as a Christmas market where local crafters can sell their goods. Other important meeting places are the playing fields in the middle of Ersboda and the activity centre Kedjan in the western part. Kedjan contains an indoor sports hall, a skateboard and BMX hall, music and dance facilities and a crafts centre. A large proportion of the inhabitants of Ersboda have a background of recent immigration, which means that Ersboda has a high cultural diversity with many different languages spoken.
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Mapping “Ersboda is an Autonomous Village”
Housing typlogy owned by ‘Bostaden’. Total number of properties owned is approximately 1183.
‘Bostadsrattsforening’, Housing Cooperatives
Privately owned properties
Ersboda Industrial Area
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Mapping Observations
Ersboda consists of several parts with strong barriers separating them from each other. Most of these barriers are roads or the clear separation of functions. Some barriers are very physical such as fences, ditches or small woods while others are deďŹ ned by who the users of a speciďŹ c site are. Two clearly deďŹ ned areas (in which sub-areas also exist) is the industrial/shopping area in the south and west and the housing area in the northeast of Ersboda. The industrial/shopping area also functions as a barrier on a larger scale, separating the housing in Ersboda from the neighbouring city districts to the south, Sandbacka and Mariedal.
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Mapping Makers community
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One of the main outcomes of the research in Ersboda is the mapping of a loosely organised community of makers that produce everything from polished stone jewellery to knitted pieces of hand-dyed yarn to collectively grown vegetables. Together they organise markets where they meet and sell their hand-made objects. Out of these observations came the idea to make a guide to Ersboda where all oddities, makers’ spaces, cultural facilities and material harvesting sites are placed and described. The map would highlight and hopefully connect people with each other and with materials for producing projects and commons within the area.
Directory 1
Ersboda Folkets Hus Folkets Hus houses a library, cafe, cinema, various different associations and organises different events from Dansband concerts to craft fairs. The events attract a lot of local people.
2
Kedjans aktivitetscentrum Kedjan is a municipal organisation that in collaboration with local sports and culture associations runs a youth activity centre. The activity centre consists of a a craft centre, a music and dance studio, a sports hall, a table tennis club and an indoor skate and BMX hall. People of all ages take part of the activities within these facilities and Kedjan also have a programme for helping young people to organise their own events with their help.
Ersboda Slöjdförening They have spaces for textile crafts such as weaving and sewing but also for wood working, stone sanding and silver works. One of their activities is organising daily crafts sessions where immigrants can come and practice crafts while learning Swedish together.
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Frasses
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Las Palmas Pizzeria
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Pizzeria & Gril Pion
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Kärnan
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Flamingo Restaurang & Pizzeria There are local pizzerias and bigger fast food chain restaurants in Ersboda that act as collective spaces for locals and for people who come to the industrial shopping areas of Ersboda.
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Ersboda Odlingsförening nr. 1
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Umeå koloniträdgårdsförening
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Ersboda Odlingsförening nr. 3 In Ersboda there are three main sites of allotment gardens, the Umeå koloniträdgårdsförening, where people can rent an allotment space with a cottage or the the “Ersboda Growers Association” allotments 1 and 3 where anyone can rent a space and it has a set organisation of private and collective spaces for growing together.
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Mapping Material harvesting/Industrial sites
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The industrial/shopping area contains one and two storey buildings of various sizes and purposes. A mix of big and small stores, office buildings, industrial workshops and warehouse buildings but no residential buildings. The buildings are placed alone or in smaller clusters surrounded by parking. When walking around in the area we realised that there is a large variety of small scale businesses, several working with materials for building construction or interior decoration. Many of these companies produce waste, for example scrap tiles, glass, wood, car tyres, old furnitures and textiles. In the north part of Ersboda we found the municipal Park and Roads departmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dump/storage site for old, broken or seasonal objects. They had a lot of replaced road signs, bus stops and benches lying around. These materials have the potential to be used as building materials and we saw it as a possibility for establishing a connection between these companies and other actors in Ersboda.
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19
16
20
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Intervention Ersboda propaganda map
The map is a way of giving information about Ersboda and highlighting potential places where common life can emerge, based on our observations and research in the area. There is an issue with the way Ersboda is being perceived both from the people outside and those living in Ersboda. It is considered to be a rough and dangerous area. With this map we attempted to highlight positive aspects of Ersboda and encourage people to help create its rich tapestry.
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Distribution on site in Ersboda
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Intervention Workshop at the Kedjan
One place that is crossing the border between the industrial area and the housing area is Kedjan, mentioned earlier. Located in the industrial area, between a Porsche dealership and an industrial estate, it still draws people living in both Ersboda and other parts of Umeå. We went to a meeting and talked to one of the youth leaders at Kedjan, Göran Lind. He explained their organisation and activities for us. Knowing the situation of Ersboda’s young population, he also talked about how many felt unsafe walking alone in Ersboda after dark. This feeling of being unsafe was not related to a clear threat, he thought it had more to do with the big distances in Ersboda and the lack of lighting in many places. The industrial areas and the forest paths were mentioned as the most ”unsafe” areas, while McDonald’s and the football pitches were at the opposite end of the scale. We wanted to spread the knowledge we gathered to other people in Ersboda so we decided to organise a building workshop during the Christmas holidays for young people in Ersboda. The workshop would be a two-day event where we would help teenagers to design and build furniture from materials harvested within Ersboda. In the end, we would make arrange all furniture and make an event somewhere in Ersboda. Afterwards everyone would take their piece of furniture home and tell others about the project.
Kedjan helped us with marketing, and the booking of a wood workshop in the craft association’s facilities.
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Material Harvesting
For materials, we contacted companies in Ersboda and also talked to the Parks and Roads department. Several companies allowed us to come and collect the material we needed from their scrap, and the municipality gave us permission to take road signs from their dump. Myrorna, a second hand shop in Ersboda, gave us some chairs they were going to throw away.
In the end the outcome of the intervention was not what we expected. The workshop did not take place as we were unable to get any participants! We decided to build furniture ourselves instead out of the material we had collected and later we placed it on the big ďŹ eld separating the east from the west of Ersboda. This is an area with a lot of pedestrians walking by, so we highlighted it on the Ersboda Guide as a potential application site and assembly point of harvested materials.
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Röbäck
“If we just want to go to a café, we have to go into the town centre.” Resident
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Röbäck is an old farming village, first recorded in the 16th Century, with some of the old farms still in existence at the eastern end of the current village. Mass house building since the 1950s Million Programme has meant Röbäck is partly old, organically developed village and partly new, designed blocks. Apart from a supermarket and attached takeaway, it is a dormitory suburb with no obvious public life.
Population:
2200 No. Units: ....
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
1
3
3
1
13
1
1
Percentage of Owned Properties 0
100
Average Price per m2
1000SEK/month Pre-1900
1900 - 1980
1980 + No. of Bostaden Properties with different number of rooms:
Future Röbäck is considered a site for future development by the municipality, with plans for further housing and discussions with the current residents underway. The plans make no provision for further shops or cafés to make the area a functioning village.
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1R&K
2R&K
3R&K 3R&K
5R&K
Single
No. of rooms:
About an hour’s walk from the centre of Umeå, Röbäck is to the south of the river and west of the main town.
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The common room in this area includes a small gym
The cleaning of the common outdoor spaces is combined with compulsory ďŹ ka
An area of large villas with even bigger garages, some of which seem to act as storage for large items like snowmobiles, lorries etc.
This area has a small common wood workshop and they all have a share in a big larder connected to the garages
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This is the old part of RÜbäck. It mainly consist of villas and some old farms, the number of common facilities such as laundry and storage is therefore low
Shared facilities
Garages
Amenities
Parking
Football Pitches
Forest
Areas
Playgrounds
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Signs of Röbäck
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Welcome, Welcome!
Go slowly!
The former because everything felt so well kept and as if someone was going to return at any minute, and the latter for the same reasons - it was rather like the Mary Celeste.
Much of the interaction that was obvious to This house belongs to Bostaden. us happens through signs. You are under surveillance. Walk your dog - just not here. Prominent were the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Welcomeâ&#x20AC;? signs - their Presumably most people were at work, profusion creating the converse effect in Have you seen my cat? which would account for the lack of people our minds. in what is effectively a dormitory, but there This way to the laundry. was a sense of emptiness that was comforting and disconcerting in equal measure. Today we are open!
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Micro-Sharing A closer look at what is shared in Röbäck
AREA 1 - Private Villas Big Garages, dogs...
1. The Road and Pavement The only obvious thing that is shared on this street is the road and the pavement.
First Impressions The density of housing is much lower than the rest of Röbäck and the guarded nature of each dwelling stood out. Suddenly there were large fences, long private drive-ways and huge garages. We saw one resident on our way out walking a pit-bull dog. Another house had a dog exercise course in the back garden.
1. Second-hand Shop The first thing that caught our eyes was the small second-hand shop at the top of the cul-de-sac. It opens for two hours on a Monday night or you can telephone the owner and arrange an appointment.
1
AREA 3- Original Röbäck Big Garages, dogs...
First Impressions The varied and winding roads were a refreshing change after the grid-like layout of the newer areas. The main sign of life was the horses.
1. The Road and Pavement The only obvious thing that is shared on this street is the road and the pavement.
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2. Historical Sharing When the farms were less mechanised, there was presumably more life in the farmyards with itinerant labourers and work happening everywhere. Now, although still working, the farms are more lifeless apart from a few animals.
1. Shared Laundry One resident has access to the laundry at any time. After booking a slot, only they can access the room at the given time. This eliminates the possibility of chatting with the neighbours while you wait or even having to get annoyed about the person who always takes longer than they should.
5. Notice Board Well-used community notice board with displays including: Bokbuss (‘Bookbus’) timetable & carshare offers to Ikea.
AREA 2 - Families & Sand-pits
5 1
2 4
First Impressions Our first visit to this area was on an autumnal evening. It was fairly quiet, but a few families with young children were coming and going. The children seemed to be enjoying the car-free pathways often running and skipping ahead of their parents.
2. Communal Kitchen A tidy room with very little sign of life. Is this because residents have to book to use the room in advance? From what we could tell it is used more for private formal events than for casual socialising with the neighbours. 3. Outside Play We were astonished at the number and frequency of small playgrounds, basket-ball hoops, BBQ spots & sandpits. Plastic toys were left outside suggesting that children were happy to share with their neighbours.
1. Shared Identity The newer ‘Eco’ houses in this area are all the same design. If alterations are desired the rules are strict to make sure that the look stays the same. Decks, extensions etc. have to be a particular design and size and get consent from the neighbours. The emptiness coupled with the blandness of the development immediately put us in mind of a holiday camp.
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4. Shared Gardening equipment Wheelbarrows, lawnmowers and rakes were hanging outside the laundry. Do these belong to the professional gardeners or are they shared by the residents?
AREA 3-’Eco’ Houses & Emptiness
5. Notice Board The notice board was empty apart from a few ‘official’ looking notices about a compulsory maintenance day & Fika.
3. Outside Play Although there were some playgrounds and small sand-pits, they were far less concentrated than in area 2. A few toys and a DIY swing in the woods implied it was being used as a play area.
First Impressions Arriving here from the school nearby, the cleanliness and apparent barrenness of the area were immediately obvious, compared to the rather more lively compact area nearby.
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Intravening/Design/Research Röbäck seems to have a life outside the work that people do in Umeå - there are allotments, notices on noticeboards, toys and bicycles litter the streets and it seems to be a child’s paradise. However, with time being short and our desire to get inside the interrelationships of Röbäck strong, we did not limit ourselves to talking to residents, acting the anthropologist and visiting the rarely-open second-hand shop. Aware of the huge possibilities for sharing skills that 2,200 people in a relatively small place can offer, we hit upon the idea of a self-created book and skills library. Coupling this with ideas for a coffee and discussion framework that would help people engage with the plans for the area and whether they were really in the best interests of the residents, we set to work. In the end we only had time for the first leg of the project, the library. A prototype of this now stands in Röbäck, designed to look like an inviting beast that has somehow wandered in from the trackless forest, it naturally got the nickname of “The Creature”, which stuck.
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“The Creature” - Röbäck Library of Skills and Books Construction Drawings
Shingles With such abundant timber for building, shingles were a very common method of roofing in Sweden. Now that metal and other materials are seen as standard, we wanted to return to a relationship with local materials and techniques that blend with the history and geography of the place. There are still people who know these techniques, and they are also being employed by the Västerbotten Museum to restore local barns using traditional materials. Upon visiting a retired carpenter involved in this programme, we were able to buy shingles from him that he had cut himself. The wonderful texture of the shingles also adds to the animal sense of the construction!
Window/Door Letting light out from the lantern while keeping the contents of the Creature safe from the weather, the window was repaired and given a preliminary coat of the traditional blend of birch tar, linseed oil and turpentine.
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The library is placed in a small grove where it is seen from the main road, the nursery school, the surrounding housing areas and the popular short-cut between them.
Site
Villa area Detached houses with large garages on private plots with fences, Not many things are held in common. The residents of this area will pass the intervention on their way out.
Bus-stops There are two bus-stops in each direction in this part of Röbäck. The intervention sits in the middle of them.
Pre-school The creature is next to a nursery for 1 to 5 year old children. It is accessible for the children who can use it and spread the word to their friends and parents.
Short-cut This frequently used path goes through the grove where the creature sits, connecting one housing area to the main road and the nursery.
Stump and tree A stump in front of the creature allows children to reach the shelves. When the window is open it leans against a tree, protecting it from the wind.
Main road The creature can be seen from the road that branches out to the housing areas and connect them to the central parts of Röbäck and the rest of Umeå.
The Creature
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“The Creature” Construction 1. Making the frame
2. Fixing the Frame
3. Repairing old Windows
To ensure a strong, solid structure we tested a number of wood joints such as laps, half laps, stopped dovetails and mortice and tenons.
The frame was, glued, clamped & left overnight to dry. We worked from a sketches and a rough CAD model, but adjusted the measurements as the frame emerged.
For the cabinet door we decided to make use of the discarded windows found in the school workshop. These required stripping, re-painting and re-glazing.
7. Shingle Research
8. Putting on the shingles
We went to visit a local shingle expert to get some advice about shingling. Luckily he had some left-over shingles from a project that he was willing to sell.
Following Axel’s instructions we attached the shingles. The grain of the wood has to run from top to bottom to ensure than rain easily runs downwards and off.
9. The shingles While adding the shingles was slightly laborious, at first the effect was worth the effort and proceeded quickly with experience.
13. Birch Tar Protection
14. Christmas Presents
15. Notebook
In a nearby flat we melted the tar and mixed it with linseed oil. We had to apply the mixture very soon after (before it sets). It was too cold to paint the entirety!
The local ‘Bokcafe’ in Pilgatan picked us out some interesting books, specifically authors from the region. We put these into the exchange to get it going...
We added a small ‘visitors’ book for residents to write comments and exchange messages in. See opposite page for a translation of our note from Swedish.
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4. Secondary structure
5. Hinges
We used plywood sheets to cover and With difficulty we arranged the three brace the frame. Thicker wood was used hinges that supported the window to create the curve, which acted as a frame. frame.
6. ‘U’-shaped Book Shelves We made these curved so that books on all three sides of books can be accessed easily. A hollow space in the centre is perfect for hanging a lamp!
10. Taking the Creature to Röbäck
11. Choosing the spot
12. Making adjustments on site
Luckily we had some kind helpers nearby who lent us their trailer for the day.
The footprints in the snow helped us find a frequented but calm spot just off the main road of Röbäck.
After positioning the Creature we had to make a few adjustments, but all in all the we were pleased with the way it fitted.
16. Finished! Just in time for the Christmas holidays the exchange is ready for visitors! By carrying out the finishing touches on site we hoped to start a discussion with local residents, but no-one was around! Perhaps when the weather improves, there will be a chance to paint the preservative tar on the outside in a special event...
“Welcome! All of this is yours and mine, what we don’t need to own by ourselves we can share with each other. There is room for both books and many other things. Do you want help with something or can you help someone? Write in the book and put a pin on the map. Maybe you need help to fix your dishwasher and you can walk the neighbour’s dog instead. Here you can lend and leave as you like.”
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03. Alternative Methods
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Institutional examples of Common Life Alternative methods of common existence are widespread in institutions, where the individual is often subjugated to a discipline created by the institution and the
emphasis is on the common good rather than individual expression. However, this framework often allows for more individual creativity than personal self-sufficiency does.
Military
The picture is taken from the film Das Boot, famous in part the claustrophobia created by filming entirely within the submarine, rather than using a cutaway set. Men live cheek-by-jowl, sharing bunks, rarely washing and unable to escape from one another. Yet they are an extremely effective unit. Military discipline relies on each individual having initiative to approach any threat, yet being able to unquestioningly follow orders. The reliance of each man on his fellows cannot be overstated, with the focus on the day-to-day being in part responsible for the strong bonds forged. The camaraderie is so strong that many ex-service personnel find it very hard to adjust to life away from the constant company of their colleagues.
Prisons
Although many prisons are all about providing isolation there are also examples of prisons where a communal life is encouraged. The Halden prison in Norway encourages residents to live a communal life together. Every ten or twelve ‘cells’ share a kitchen where they prepare and eat meals together and often eat with the specially trained guards. The San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia is more like a town than a prison and inmates have to rent a cell. Their families live within the prison and provide a vital link with the outside world. The prisoners commonly earn a living through the production of cocaine, and many sell products from outside in the prison ‘markets’. There are no guards so the prisoners have to take on responsibilities such as running the canteens and committees.
Boarding Schools
Many boarding schools (so called because they provide full-board accommodation) are associated with the upper classes in the UK although they are common throughout the world. Traditionally, up to the early 20th century, boys would be ‘sent away’ to school at the age of seven or eight, returning occasionally for holidays but otherwise left to their own devices to grow up. Discipline was often harsh, with bullying such as in the famous book “Tom Brown’s Schooldays” common. Today, many schools are much more open and friendly places, although the older schools in the UK such as Eton are still renowned for their uniforms, traditions and relatively closed societies. Regardless, the experience of little parental intrusion and independence is still relished today.
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;The prisoners commonly earn a living through the production of cocaine.â&#x20AC;? 71
â&#x20AC;&#x153;These people had nothing in common except the intimate spaces that they shared.â&#x20AC;? 72
Kommunalka Soviet Russia
They’re ordinary people, … except that the housing shortage has soured them … Mikhail Bulgakov “Master and Margarita”
In Saint Petersburg in Russia, there still exist communal housing blocks, products of Soviet urban planning dictated by ideological, political, social as well as economic motives. In these flats people from all backgrounds and social classes are gathered together due to circumstance. They formed a cross-section of the Soviet society grouped together in the same place. Soviet-style planning often called for the complete redesigning of cities. Throughout nearly all of the Soviet period, urban housing was in critically short supply relative to the needs of the population. The intensive industrialisation and urbanisation of the USSR in the twentieth century put enormous pressure on existing housing stock, and the Soviet government did not begin to prioritise adequate housing until the late 1950s. At the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, eighty percent of the population of Russia lived in rural villages and small towns. By the 1990s, nearly the same percentage was urban. This represents a dramatic shift from country to city. Soviet official industrialisation campaigns encouraged (and sometimes forced) their movement to cities. From the 1920s into the 1950s, a significant number of Soviet families lived in communal flats, while many lived in poor conditions in barracks or “dormitories” (mass housing for workers). For many families, gaining a room in a communal flat represented a step up in their housing situation. The so-called ‘communal flat’, or kommunalka, became the predominant form of Soviet urban housing until the Khrushchev era, and a defining feature of the country itself. These flats, which, if they had been built before the
Revolution, had then housed a single family, now had one crammed into every room, with everyone jostling for space in the one kitchen and queuing up to use the one toilet. In many cases the flats were overcrowded, so forced by circumstance, residents coped by devising a variety of strategies for maintaining order, defending their own personal spaces, and negotiating control of areas that were shared. Ownership Housing was considered as a public service under Communism, so the state was forced to provide housing of some sort for all its citizens. In the Soviet Union, housing in cities belonged to the government. The flats were distributed by municipal authorities or by government departments based on an established number of square metres per person. As a rule, tenants had no choice over which housing area they were offered. The communal apartments brought together families of vastly different educational backgrounds, attitudes, ethnicities, and life habits. These people had nothing in common except for the intimate spaces that they shared. There was hardly any urban segregation in the Soviet Union as we know it today, Usually, each family lived in one room, with the kitchen, hallway, lavatory, and—in later years—bathroom, as highly contested public spaces. Communal living was the combined result of rapid urbanisation and explicit social policy. Revolutionary goals of suppressing the bourgeoisie and nurturing the Soviet “new man”, who was supposed to be trained to partici-
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pate joylessly in collective existence, led to this form of Soviet private life. There is a basic common motif to the Kommunalka project, the story of a failed experiment that began with the dreams of the Bolsheviks in 1917, when the brand-new revolution not only wanted to create new housing for workers, but new workers as well. Shared showers, toilets, and hallways were more than just a compromise necessitated by a lack of space. In many cases people customised the communal spaces by having their own personal soap or towel to achieve some feeling of ownership. Representation in Culture The resulting way of life was a core experience for generations of Russians, and is background, and sometimes foreground, to all of Soviet high culture Short stories appearing in the magazines provided in many cases a honest commentary on the housing situation. Fiction seems to have offered authors a way of painting a more nuanced picture of Soviet society. In some stories, the overcrowded flat served as a stage on which the absurdities of daily life could be acted out for dramatic or comic effect. In others, the housing crisis formed the backdrop to a tale which was ostensibly about something else entirely, with telling details on housing hovering in the background of the story. Sometimes serious observations were concealed behind a veil of humour. The lack of privacy, the fear of informers, the noise, the irritation and aggression which stemmed from living in too little space with too many people, were used to elicit what must have been, to readers, rather bitter laughter. Privacy Beacuse of the rapid urbanisation there was a shortage of housing for all people, because most of the funds were used to industrialise rather than house. The struggle to improve their housing formed a backdrop to most people’s lives throughout the decades of Soviet power. Many wrote letters to government officials and agencies begging for better housing. Some got married to flats rather than people – that is, they chose marriage partners
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in accordance with where they lived. In the years of Stalin’s Terror, ‘flat denunciation’ was not uncommon: neighbours in a communal flat would denounce one another to the authorities in the hope that if they were arrested, their living space might be up for grabs. All goods and services which were in short supply were vulnerable to speculation, and housing was no exception; we find examples of people engaging in illicit and often illegal practices to get better housing, whatever their attitude to the Soviet authorities and however loyal they were in other respects. The nature of Soviet housing – the overcrowding, combined with the probability that one resident was reporting on the others – meant that the usual relationship between the public and private was in some respects turned on its head. In one perception Soviets also simultaneously destroyed private and public life. The rapid “collectivisation” of private life and the disappearance of cafés are connected, The state’s control over private life was strong. The state touched almost every aspect of private life through legislation, surveillance and ideological control. The organisation of kommunalka made it possible to monitor the behaviour of tenants much more readily than if they had lived in single-family homes. One tenant would be given responsibility for ensuring the running of the flat, which involved drawing up the rota which dictated when each tenant could use the bathroom, determined who would do what chores to maintain cleanliness and hygiene, dividing up the charges for communal services such as the telephone and electricity – and reporting to the police. These ‘senior tenants’ clearly had considerable power over the other tenants, not just on account of their relationship with the authorities, but also because they insisted on the right to observe and interfere in the domestic habits and personal lives of their neighbours.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In one perception, the Soviets simultaneously destroyed private and public life.â&#x20AC;? 75
Nomadic Habitation
Nomadism is social phenomenon and a way of life for people who do not live continually in the same place but move cyclically or periodically. Nomadism does not imply unrestricted and undirected wandering or simple migration and complete change of habitat, but is based on a structured way of habitation, on temporary centres, where stability depends on the availability of food supply and the technology for exploiting it. Nomadic cultures are flexible, switching between transient and more sedentary ways of life, and assimilating and inventing new ideas and technologies. The term nomad is connected traditionally to three different types: nomadic hunters and gatherers, pastoral nomads, and tinker or trader nomads. Traditionally the emphasis has been put on ecology as a main factor that has shaped the lives of the nomads. Nomadism has been a ecological adaptation, that influences the movement and typologies of habitat. A traditional example is in the steppes of rural Mongolia, home to thousands of Mongolian nomads who
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can be found living in gers dotted across the landscapes. Many of them live out on the grasslands all year round with livestock, which they rely upon for life. Mongolia Mongolia is one of the few places where the ancient nomadic lifestyle is still visible. Mongolian nomads live in yurts that are portable and frequently found surrounded by livestock, from horses to goats, sheep, cattle and yak. Yurts are built with a timber frame, and well insulated with sheep wool and felt. Nomadic families often gathered in groups to move generally distances of 50 to 100 kilometres, at least twice a year, in spring and at the beginning of winter. The Mongolian nomads devote all the day to caring after their animals to produce felt and felt clothes, cheese and other dairy products. The Sami country stretches across the northern part of Scandinavia and
Russia’s Kola Peninsula. The Sami are indigenous people, that have developed their own traditional crafts, language, education, reindeer husbandry, traditions and identity. The population today is estimated at around 80,000 people, spread over four countries with approximately 20,000 in Sweden, 50,000 in Norway, 8,000 in Finland and 2,000 in Russia. The Sami were originally nomads, living in tents during the summer and more sturdy huts during the colder seasons. Today, The Sami usually live in modern housing and only use tents as very temporary accommodations during reindeer migrations. Today, only ten percent of Swedish Sami earn a living from the reindeer industry, and many combine their family businesses with tourism, fishing, crafts and other trades. Mongolian nomads
Political Ramifications In contemporary society there are many new modes of life that can be considered nomadic by nature. These lifestyles can be initiated by accident, tradition and geographical conditions or as a way of habitation for victims of ecological or economic condition. A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees, either if they are climatic, economic or political refugees seeking a place to stay in a country of their first asylum. These camps might house over a hundred thousand people at once. Usually they are built and run by a local government, the United Nations, or other international organisations. Refugee camps are generally set up as an temporary habitat and designed to meet the most basic human needs for only a short time. It is common that the camps have problems with over-crowding and lack of infrastructure and organisation. And in many places these camps are forced to adapt into a more permanent place to dwell, because of eco-
nomic difficulties and a lack of better solutions. Apart from being shaped by ecological factors, nomadic habitation can also emerge from an ideology, where it, as cultural expression, can play an important part in determining nomadic behaviour. It can be a particular lifestyle initiated by choice, as an expression of political belief and strategy.
according to individual preference or rational choice. Or “cosmopolitans” can include exiles and migrants. Rosi Braidotti’s nomadic theory outlines a sustainable modern subjectivity as a person always in flux, never opposed to a dominant specific hierarchy, but yet intrinsically other, always in the process of becoming, and perpetually engaged in dynamic power relations. Sami family, 1901. Nils Thomasson.
The Gomal nomads of Afghanistan for example exhibit a defined ideological position, which instructs daily life. The Gomal nomads live in the administrative and social interstices of larger states by choice, as a part of a political strategy which expresses explicitly a desire to live freely. They perceive the State as a institution that imposes vast powers, corruption and impersonal administration. The choice of the nomad in this case is to remain free of the State power. In the current society there are also new concepts emerging as “modern nomads” or “cosmopolitans”. The Modern Nomads could be considered as people who move irregularly and
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Tent City One contemporary case study that could be considered nomadic in nature, and that has been shaped by economic and social conditions is the Tent City in Camden, New Jersey. Camden is among the poorest, most decrepit towns in the United States. Since the 1970s, the city has been perceived as a nadir of poverty with no solutions in sight. Better known as “The City of Ruins”, it has a high school drop out rate of 70%; recently the city services budget was slashed; local government was extremely corrupt and it was also the setting for “America’s Most violent Police.”
The Tent City was set up in the winter of 2010. The city of Camden had 775 homeless, so the city officials tolerated the encampment, despite its illegality, until late spring, when they dismantled it. “As soon as tent cities spring up, as soon as they get organised well enough to provide a bit of security for their residents, they’re destroyed.” The Tent City was perceived as a ‘blight on the landscape.’ Alternative way of habitation and organisation of community, driven by economic and societal factors are emerging in other places in the USA including Fresno, Phoenix and Sacramento.
Just off highway I-676 at Exit 5A lies a place called Transition Park, better known as the Tent City. One of main activators of this way of habitation was poverty in Camden and a high rate of unemployment. It is also known as the American Homeless Jungle. Started by Lorenzo “Jamaica” Banks, it housed around 60 homeless people and they had an inclusive philosophy, that “In today’s society no one is exempt from Transitional Park. Everybody is one pay-cheque away from being here”. Accommodation was cheap tents, repaired old tents and tarpaulin shelters. The community itself had an official website and collective bank account and they posted strict rules for anyone wanting to stay there. The organisation and responsibilities are set by the founder, better known as the “Mayor” of Transitional Park who had been said to run the tent city almost like a military encampment. He also had an assistant, whom the Mayor called his CEO. There were tent inspections every week, strict rules regarding drug use, prostitutes, rubbish, alcohol and so on. All violators of these rules were expelled from the camp. There were guards set at night that kept control. Community meetings were also held every Tuesday night.
Braidotti, Rosi. Nomadic Theory. Columbia University Press, 2014. Edited by Phillips Andrea and Erdemci, Fulya. Actors, Agents and Attendants. Social Housing—Housing the Social: Art, Property and Spatial Justice. Sternberg Press, 2012 Veneziani, Vince. “Welcome To “Transition Park”, The Horrible Tent City In Camden, NJ” Business Insider . http://www.businessinsider.com/transition-tent-city-camden2010-5?op=1#ixzz3OGJiWAth MODERN NOMADS, VAGABONDS, OR COSMOPOLITANS? Reflections on Contemporary Tuareg Society. Ines Kohl. Journal of Anthropological Research. Vol. 66, No. 4 Nomadism as Ideological Expression: The Case of Gomal Nomads. Akbar S. Ahmed. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 17, No. 27 http://www.e-mongol.com/mongolia_nomadiclife.htm
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“In today’s society, no-one is exempt from Transitional Park.”
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Piotr Paczkowski
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Various reasons to know your neighbours: cohousing and other ways of living together A brief history Cohousing is a way of life associated mostly with Scandinavia, UK, Germany and United States. Its beginnings are usually traced to Denmark in the 60s, but it seems that it in fact started in Sweden a few decades earlier and transformed later on into a cohousing with self-work model. In the beginnig, the main aim was equality between men and women, in order to combine gainful employment with family life. Common meals and other services available at cohousing were allowing to reduce the amount of housework performed by individuals. At first, the collective houses were based on services through employed staff. The first one was started in 1935 in Stockholm, designed by architect Sven Markelius, who lived there for many years after. It had a peculiar floorplan, with a central kitchen and a restaurant on the ground and a system of four foodlifts to facilitate distributing meals to the upper floors.
Glossary Cohousing, Kollektivhus - housing with common spaces and shared facilities Commune, Kollektiv - a small group of pepole sharing a villa or a bigger apartment Eco-village - an intentional settlement aimed at ecological lifestyle. Byggemenskap, Baugruppe, building group - an intentional group of people planning and developing collectively a residential building.
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Between 1930s and 1970s, seventeen collective houses were built in Sweden. One of them was a Hässelby Family Hotel, built in 1950s in Stockholm, having 325 apartments, a restaurant, a cafeteria, a party room, a day-care centre for kids, a gym, a shop, a reception, a hairdresser and a meditation room. In this model the tenants were still not supposed to do any house work, but in 1970s the meal service has closed down and the tenants started to cook for themselves in the restaurant kitchen, and they found this task very attractive. This is considered to be the beginning of self-work model of living together. Cohousing experiences in Scandinavia are more varied than one may presume. In Sweden, since the beginnings, cohousing is operating in urban environments. This usually means a single building designed or adapter for sharing with others. In Denmark it took a shape of settlements called „living communities”, working as an intentional cluster of private 10-40 private homes sharing with facilities like kitchen, heating, transport, open spaces and guest rooms. An increased interest
10% from 15 flats means dining room, living room, guest room, laundry, sauna, workshop
10% from 40 flats means dining room, living room, library, media room, play room, guest rooms, gymnasium, hand room, laundry, sauna, workshop
1. The programme for the shared 10% in a small and large cohousing.
in cohousing came with the 1968 student movement, when a lot of „collectives” looked for an alternative to the standard nuclear family model. A good Danish example is Tinggården designed by Tegnestuen Vandkunsten as a winning competition entry in 1978. It consists of 78 homes, which have flexible layouts and component-based construction allowing to shrink or expand according to the needs changing over time. In Norway cohousing never really existed, possibly due to the ownership structure of housing market and other conditions, including geography.
Cohousing now Currently, there are around 44 functioning collective houses and they are supported organisationally by an organisation Kollektivhus NU. Most of them was created in the 80s, managed by municipal housing companies and built specifically for cohousing. The main demand for the residents is collective cooking, for the other facilities like laundry rooms, libing rooms, guest rooms, media connectivity, workshops, sauna etc. the tenants organise according to their demands. There was a new wave in the early 90s, which introduced the idea of cohousing for „the second half of life”, for people aged over 40 with no children in the household. Currently, there are 8 houses of that kind, with more likely to come, as politicians see them as a solution offering togetherness and security for the
„Here, you not only get to know your neighbours - you get to learn from them”
2. Tinggården, Denmark 1978
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aging population. A good example is Färdknäppen in Stockholm. Altogether, this is still a fraction in the housing market share and Kollektivhus NU is trying to inform the public about the advantages of cohousing and marketing it as a viable alternative. They claim that switching to cohousing enables luxury living with a lot of social possibilities, at the same price and with less environmental impact. A lot of resources can be saved in that way, starting from food and including kitchen utensils, tools, instruments, books, TVs, computers, office space or vehicles.
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3. Sargfabrik, Vienna. One of the 110 simmilar housing units with an entrance from a gallery
Creative obedience In Sweden cohousing has been developed with help of the state, but this is not always the case. It is interesting to mention the invisible ideas that shaped Sargfabrik in Vienna, which is also described as one of the case stuies. A group of people back in the 80s was dissatisfied with the housing situation, which was expensive and not attractive for bigger families. There was a founding group, involving two architects, who started to meet regularily and think about a housing development according to their own ideas. Their main principles were living, culture and integration. 15% of the housing areas are reserved for elderly or disabled. One of the great potentials was to escape the necessity to build an expensive underground car park. They wanted to use the money to contribute to the local cultural landscape, so instead they built a café, a concert stage, a swimming pool and small spa. When the goals were set, they looked for a possibility how to make it happen. They officialy registred the building as a hostel, so that many building regulations do not count, and the required parking factor dropped from 1:1 to 1:10, so instead of regular 110 parking places they needed to provide only 11. Three of them are now used for shared vehicles, and the other 8 are serving as bike
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„Cohousing: it's not just for hippies anymore” parking. The organisation method they chose was not strictly according to the regulations, but it turns out to be working over the last 19 years and is a reference project for many followers. Self-developed housing This leads to another type, which are self-developed urban projects known as Baugruppen. The concept is straightforward: a group of people, all with the intention to build their own homes, form a collective. There’s no developer, so no profit or marketing to be paid for. Baugruppen originate from Berlin, where specific factors have facilitated their development. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, a lot of properties in the former Eastern Side became available at very cheap prices. The area attracted crowds of artists and creatives, who engaged in the revitalisation processes. Squatting became rather common, which motivated the municipality to solve the ownership issues. The property selling
prices were not attractive for developers and their big projects, as there was always enough supply of cheap housing in stock. In that case, a lot of small syndicates formed to become developers themselves and the city council offered some support. Since then, Baugruppen have evolved to become a significant force in Berlin’s housing market and nowadays they account for around 10 per cent of the new housing in the city. In 2013, a total of 14 separate Baugruppe projects delivered 440 new flats and there are currently another 1,570 in the planning or construction phase. The outcome depends on the intentions of the future owners: some just want a house saving up to 30% on the regular developer provision, while others are more interested in a design enablihg sharing or organising as cooperatives. A Swedish equivalent is called „Byggemenskap”, with an association started in 2011. By now there are very few Swedish examples: two eco-villages from mid90s, Urban Villas from Västra Hamnen in Malmö and a house with 7 apartments on a beautiful island of Brännö in Göteborg archipelago, completed in 2013. However, there are another 9 projects in preparation to be built in Sweden. Being a pioneer is not easy, especially when it comes to obtaining the loan for the construction. The banks tend to be very conservative in order to minimise risk, which may significantly delay and complicate a project and can only be solved efficiently with a help from a municipality or with supportive regulations. Involvement of the public actor seems to a very vital condition, as they can act against the market, but for the common good. Imagine a situation, where the same plot was available on an auction for a developer and a building group. If the planning regulations are not supportive enough, the developer may opt for a much higher price, planning to build ie. a tower block. The building group, with an intention to develop a more sustainable urban house, will not be able to compete, as the intensity of their building will be much lower and the price per square meter can become unaffordable. Once the legislative treshold is passed, however, self-built project are a great value for money for the citizens, by omiting the developer's fee and offering a house tailored to the need and demand of the future dwellers. This is a paradox situation, where a city in order to improve and become more attractive for the residents, must relinguish the profit it could get otherwise. It's worth to note that Baugruppen developed in Berlin, and not in Frakfurt or Munich, which are known as business and financial centres. As building groups do not necessarily aim at sharing
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4. BIGyard Baugruppe in Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg any spaces of the future building, Kollektivhus NU is cooperating with the Byggemenskap organisation to find ways to reduce costs and promote self administration, which may be beneficial for both. Conclusion Living collectively may solve a lot of urgent civilisational issues. In an increasingly digitalized and individualistic societies, it can socialize the people who would otherwise live alone. It would certainly make life more efficient and sustainable in terms of resources and energy consumption. Shared services and transportation can make a certain quality of life more affordable. Self-built in urban environments can help to overcome the hegemony of developers and profit based investments and replace the designs for a „uniformed client” with solutions tailored to the needs of a specific group. People are more often looking for housing with qualities which the market does not yet offer, so it can result a spectrum of avantgarde projects and initiatives. Then, last but not least, living closer with otheres simply souds like a lot of fun and a valid training of one's social skills, which are much needed from day to day. It all looks complicated until one just simply does it.
References www.kollektivhus.nu www.byggemenskap.se www.baugruppen-architekten-berlin.de www.communitybuild.org.uk www.boigemenskap.se SELFMADE CITY Berlin: Self-Initiated Urban Living and Architectural Interventions, jovis 2013 Cohousing Cultures. Handbook for self-organized, community-oriented and sustainable housing, jovis 2012
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Legend Yellow indicates what is shared in a particular project
Children Young Adults Middle-Aged Elderly
Outdoor Space Living Rooms Income/Money Way of Life Bedrooms Laundering Maintenance/Cleaning Building Respnsibilities Cooking Responsibilities Eating
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04. Case Studies
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Tulou Fujian, China
Large, fortified buildings with circular or square plan Architect: vernacular Year completed: 12th - 20th century In common: clan housing Owner: clan owned
Greyscale Image No. Units:
<80
8200 m2
25
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
All the rooms in the living areas share the same size and level of decoration, as there is no real hierarchy in the community of people inhabiting each Toulu.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
This type of buildings is found exclusively in Fujian. They are placed individually or in groups and perform like a self-contained villages. This architecture is a blend of a house and a town. There is only one entrance door and all the dwelling units are located on the perimeter, adjacent to the thick outside wall. A tulou may contain up to 80 living units, organised vertically. The ground floor of a unit serves for daily activities and eating, while the upper floors contain bedrooms and storage rooms. The upper floors are reached only via few shared staircases and galleries. The design of a Tulou relates to Feng-Shui and Chinese philosophy. Ring-shaped buildings were more common within Taoists, as relating more to the spiritual world. On the practical level, circular plans were also more efficient, using less material for same surface area. Communal life took place in the courtyard, where it was used as a marketplace; a site for worship and celebration; the space for children’s play or as an outdoor kitchen in the summer. The Toulous are characterised by an interesting growth pattern: when the population has reached its limits, either a new ring was built around the first wall or a new unit was constructed just next to the existing one. A combination of several Toulous forms a cluster system, hosting only families from the same clan. There are several thousand Tulous that still exist and ten are protected as Unesco World Heritage Sites.
Entrance to a house used as outdoor kitchen
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Circular Tulous are often located as a cluster within other buildings
24 m
cross section of residential wing
elevation from courtyard
The shape of the building was developed mostly for defence. Armed bandits plagued southern China from the 12th to the 19th centuries and the chosen solution proved to be very effective against attack. The Tulous were built by immigrants from northern China, known as Hakka, who settled in the southern provinces.
cross section of stairwell
The peripheral walls of the fortified structure, with a thickness of up to 1.8 m, are usually built of rammed earth mixed with stone, bamboo with a lumber framework and other materials available on site, providing the building with good insulation as well as natural ventilation. The top floor is covered by a cantilevered slate roof and there is usually only one gate serving as an entrance to the building.
Sections and elevation | 1:500
Individual house ground floor | 1:200
common staircase: the only access to the upper floors
ancestral room: the most important room
thick wall built of rammed earth
reinforced entrance door with fire extinguishing system 75 m
Ground floor with buildings in the courtyard | 1:1000
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Viking Longhouse Scandinavia
Multi-occupancy defensible farmhouses. Architect: N/A Year completed: 11th Century In common: Everything Owner : Individual
Greyscale Image No. Units:
n/a
area varies
m2 / Person
varies
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The Vikings lived in collective or extended families. Children, parents and grandparents all lived together.”
Viking society was highly stratified, with three distinct classes of social status: thrall (slaves), karl (freemen) and jarl (aristocracy). Other, finer distinctions can also be made. Social order was predicated on the Þing system, self-regulated by requiring all freemen to meet on an appointed day to decide the laws and settle disputes. Self-contained, scattered farms were the norm, except where exceptional circumstances of trade or geography caused congregations of farms to become villages, so the large meetings were a highly-anticipated event. In 800AD, within the boundaries of modern Norway there were about thirty chieftains with their own Þings, which with all inhabitants except slaves and outlaws allowed to attend were more democratic than ancient Athens, where only about 10% of the inhabitants, the citizens, were allowed to vote. Outside the Þing, the self-regulation continued, with the main form of justice being the revenge attack for a perceived impugning of individual honour. A good man would wait for long enough that the offence was considered forgotten, then strike inexorably at his foe. Through this waiting and honour code, the act of revenge became a judicial tool, rather than a violent and bloodthirsty act of restitution.
Interior of a reconstructed longhouse.
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Tied to this societal tension and underlying violence, the farmhouses situated at a distance from one another allowed visitors to be surveyed before arrival for weapons and aggression. The hall-like farmhouses were three to thirty metres long, with some kings having 250 metre long halls. Usually one room with ledges for sleeping around the walls and a central fire, sometimes these halls had partitions for a stable and separate living quarters.
“The production of Icelandic farms, like households in villages, depended upon cooperation.” Positioned in defensible areas, groups of neighbouring farms were in sight of one another, or a local beacon, so in the event of an attack they could quickly seek succour from their allies. Add Scale to plans/ sections. Put underneath the left hand corner.
Scale 1:200
These loose affiliations of farmers and their households relied on one another and their common weal to keep the peace in a society where behaviour was dictacted by revenge and honour, battle and reward. The separated farms, shared grazing and delineated responsibilities helped to limit potential sources of conflict, but the Þing meetings allowed for socialising, lawmaking and merriment. A farm whose inhabitants had lost certain privileges from dishonourable actions could be unable to attend the Þing, and the consequent isolation could lead to extreme loneliness - in itself a good deterrent.
Smaller farms would have a hall separated into areas for the animals and people, so the shared warmth was not lost. Large farms, as the one above, had different buildings for various functions, particularly storing food for hard times. The limited food storage methods and farming implements available meant that starvation was a persistent worry. Certain areas were considered the preserve of women only, for example the weaving room where it was considered very dishonourable and effeminate for a man to enter, unless he was extremely heroic.
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Dar E’chjer Casbah , Algiers
Traditional house from the Algiers Medina Architect: unknown Year completed: 16th century In common: Owner : Private
No. Units:
1
400m2
10.5m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“...the terraces of the Casbah are no longer just a large village, very structured: extremely clean and active it’s a place of quasi-public exchange.” The house is located in the heart of the oldest area of the casbah district, Amar Ali. It is known as the ‘House of Trees’ because it is said the poplars in its courtyard are so tall that they are visible from the other side of the Bay of Algiers. In common with most of the houses in the Algiers medina, it is two stories high, arranged around a courtyard, with rooftop covered areas called ‘menzeh’ to take advantage of the sea breezes. All rooms open onto the courtyard, so it becomes the centre and articulator of the way the house is lived. The north side holds the ‘skifa’, an entrance device that is the equivalent of a hallway in the simpler houses, but becomes an elaborate chicane entrance in the more ornate residences. Also on the ground floor are a service block which contains a laundry room in one part and latrines in the other, the well and the ‘djeb’, or cistern, for storing rainwater. Upstairs is the place of daily life, for the larger part of the year. At the level of the gallery there are shelters to protect from rain in winter and the harsh rays of the Sun in summer. Life takes place virtually entirely outdoors. The menzeh at the terrace provide a withdrawal space within the house from clatter and disturbance. They allow residents to enjoy the view and the freshness provided by the sea breeze, especially during the evening and night. Galleries are circulation areas, but also a kind of inner balcony or cloister
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Le Sâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;hin, or gallery. More or less a corridor or cloister, it plays the role of horizontal communication and connects to the upper rooms. It is a kind of interior balcony for women.
Wast-ed-dar, or patio. It generally has a simple geometric shape (square or rectangular), open to the sky, providing illumination and ventilation for the house. Its centrality to the house is reinforced by its multifunctional character. It is also the heart of community life, where women share daily tasks.
Introversion. The facades of the house do not contain important openings; aeration of the house is achieved by the open patio.
Stah, or terrace. A large open rooftop, overlooking the Bay of Algiers, it constitutes the female space. It allows discreet communication and direct daily exchange without going outside and using the street.
Scale 1:500
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Nias Villages Nias Island, Indonesia
Short Description... Architect: x Year completed: x In common: x Owner : x
No. Units:
varies
Area Varies
m2 / Person
varies
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“Modern settlements lack the spatial qualities of the traditional village. Common places do not exist.”
The staircase leading to the village of Bawometaluo.
Like “stone islands in the jungle” the villages of Nias, an island 120km from Sumatra, show how public and private life can be integrated in culture and expressed through architecture. A paved street is faced by houses, divided from them by an Öli Batu or ‘wall of stones’ where megaliths indicate the status of the household. The centre of the street is a public walkway, and the land gradually becomes more private as one approaches the back of the house. Public living rooms are at the front of the houses, always accessed from the sides and their interconnection means it is possible to walk inside, parallel to the street from one house to another and keep an eye on strangers outside. As much of the land is very unstable, the old village cores are always on raised, solid ground - one case has a landslide breaking away a new village extension, just at the point where it met the entrance staircase of the old part. The houses rest lightly on foundation stones and are thus not coupled to the ground, helping their earthquake resistance. The raised ground is approached by a massive stone staircase that leads into a long street, paved with closely-fitting stones. In South Nias, rectangular houses are built in rows facing this street, while in the north they are oval and placed at a distance from one another. The headman’s house, or Omo Sebua is placed at one end of the street, with stone benches used for village meetings.
Images from “Space and the Architect”, Herman Hertzberger.
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Surrounded by rainforest, the villages appear as stone islands on hilltops.
Nias became known to the West after an earthquake in 2005, which caused widespread damage to much of the island. Most of the buildings destroyed were unstable, western-style concrete structures that are unsuited to the particular demands of the “dancing island”, so called because of the very high seismic activity in the area.
Scale 1:300
Scale 1:2000
No injuries or deaths were recorded in the traditional buildings - the lightweight wooden structure and design means the houses are extremely earthquake-resistant. The space between the Öli Batu and the walkway belongs to each house’s owner, to be used for laundry, drying produce and is the threshold of the house. An outsider has to be invited off the walkway into the house, whereas a village member is free to visit, sit on the megaliths and observe the street. The first floor living rooms are often crowded with visitors, while children play on the street. “Private, public and collective use intertwine and mesh.” (Hertzberger) High roofs and pierced walls create excellent air-conditioning.
The houses rely on posts and highly visible diagonal bracing, both made from local slow-growing hardwood fixed with mortice and tenon joints that are easily tightened if loosened in an earthquake. Scale 1:200
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Torvkåta (Turf Hut) Sápmi
Traditional Sámi dwelling Architect: Vernacular Year completed: Traditional In common: Lifestyle Owner : Family
Greyscale Image No. Units:
1
15 m2
X
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
A traditional way of life, closely related to nature.
The traditional turf hut is a single room that is shared by one family. The interior space is divided into specific areas, but there are no interior walls. It might not be seen as a shared or common space other than for the family, but the exterior space is shared among larger groups.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
Construction detail
94
Sámis used to live in groups called ‘Sijdja’ of around ten families. Each Sijdja had its own territory where only the group members were allowed to hunt and fish. If some group members were unable to gather food through injury or misfortune, they were supported and fed by the rest of the group. Today Sápmi is divided into 51 Sámi villages with 4,686 members. These villages act as geographical and economical associations and they manage the right to one of the traditional Sámi livelihoods - reindeer herding. The turf hut is one of many traditional Sámi dwellings. The Sámis are an indigenous people from Sápmi, an area that preceded national borders and spreads over Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The dwelling traditions are different in different parts of Sápmi since they rely on the locally available materials and are adapted to different livelihoods. Reindeer herding Sámis for example move their reindeer according to the seasons and therefore live as nomads. The main structure of the northern Sámi turf hut is made from curved birches. These birches occur naturally on steep slopes where they are bent under the heavy snow loads. An inner layer of reinforcing birch battens constructs the walls of the hut. The walls are then clad with a layer of bark for its excellent waterproofing qualities, and finally layered turf bricks. Traditional Sámi dwellings are made from natural materials and when they are no longer in use, they decay and return to nature. An old Sámi saying elucidates their approach to their world: “that which nature has given it shall regain.”
The location of the turf hut is determined by the surrounding nature and the Sámi livelihoods.
Construction of turf hut by the architect collective Fellesskapsprosjektet å Fortette Byen (FFB) in Umeå. This hut was built as part of a project connected to Umeå Bildmuseet. It was constructed by a group of artists in collaboration with passers by. The public was also invited for an evening of storytelling about Sámi traditions, accompanied by Sámi cooking. Boassjo, storage Luojddo, family area Plans 1:100
Árran, fireplace Uksa, entrance The plan is programmed in five different areas with specific purposes for each. The middle árran is the fire place. The space opposite to the entrance is called boassjo in lulesamiska, boaššu in nordsamiska (southern and northern dialects). This is the storage space for pots and groceries and it is also used for adjusting the ventilation. According to Sámi history, this space was holy and it was used for bringing holy things such as the drum into the hut. The space closest to the entrance is called uksa. When guests are invited they sit close to the entrance. The spaces on the opposite sides of the fire place are called luojddo, this is where the family sits. Birch battens Spruce twigs Birch bark Tiled turf
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Turf House / Austur-Meðalholt Iceland
Vernacular architectural tradition in Iceland. Architect: Farmers/building knowledge passed on In common: Lifestyle Owner : Family
Greyscale Image No. Units:
1
312 m2
30
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The house that kept Icelanders alive and nurtured their culture through the centuries.”
http://islenskibaerinn.is/ Islenski baerinn museum
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
Life in the Austur Meðalholt turf farm in 1957.
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LiAi - Common Life
Since the first inhabitant settled in Iceland in the ninth century, turf along with unshaped but intuitively selected and assembled rocks, has been the predominant building material of Icelandic dwellings until the recent condition of emerging contemporary typologies. It is an example of the houses built of natural material with a great knowledge of the geographic location, it is a subtle and almost seamless extension of nature itself. The Icelandic turf house tradition has evolved under unique conditions over many hundreds of years. It has since been adapted to the local climate, varying environmental resources and the requirements of the society that developed in Iceland. Also the changes that have happened to the houses during the time they are being inhabited and used forms an integral part of their development. The turf houses were initally relatively big and simple structures, gradually developing into more complex and mysterious clusters of interrelated houses depending on their intended use. This organic cluster of buildings are referred to as the old Icelandic farmstead. These old farmhouses are integrated into the landscape, the seasons and the light, and is a great examples of harmony between the natural environment and manmade structures.
Austur-Meðalholt is situated in the flat farmlands of southern Iceland near Selfoss town. The farm is from the 19th century. 1:200
Austur-Meðalholt 1895
In the very heart of a traditional turf farm there is the main living room, “baðstofa” – a place where the Icelanders worked, ate and slept, were born and eventually died. The farmstead is composed of four clustered houses in addition to the stable and barn. The walls are made with stones and turf. The gables are made from timber and clad with corrugated iron. The rooftops are also clad with corrugated iron to withstand the harsh Icelandic weather. The development of each farmstead, although dependent on many different factors, would take place over many years, with new houses being added and old ones reconstructed as necessary.
1:500
3
Austur-Meðalholt 2014
LiAi - Common Life
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Västerbottensgård Västerbotten, Sweden
Farmhouse common in coastal areas of northen Sweden Architect: Vernacular Year completed: 18th-19th century In common: Everything
Greyscale Image No. Units:
1
85 m2
8
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“This room was called Storstuga and here the residents slept, ate and did indoor chores” The Northern Swedish Farm was a typologically common arrangement in the coastal region of northern Sweden during the 18th and 19th centuries. There are several different regional variations of this farm, with the Västerbotten farm understandably the most common in Västerbotten county. The farm consists of several buildings, all made from logs as timber was the easiest available material. The solid jointed log construction meant that buildings could be easily enlarged, disassembled or moved if necessary.
Sources: http://www.kulturarvvasterbotten.se
A basic farmhouse contained one vestibule and one big room that was heated with a stove. This room was called the storstuga (big cabin) and here the residents slept, ate and did indoor chores. On wealthier farms, the farmhouse could also have a chamber that was used for storage, and a hall of the same size as the main living room. This room was unheated and only used for weddings or fine guests such as a priest. The room was a way to display the wealth of the family to others. The other buildings were placed perpendicular to the main building and often consisted of a barn for the animals, storage buildings and a bakehouse where crisp-bread was made a few times every year.
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1:5000 The location chosen for the farmhouse was often on a hill and where the land was less fertile.
CHAMBER “STORSTUGA” Large living room with kitchen
REPRESENTATION HALL Only used for festivities
FARMHOUSE Storstuga The main room where everyone slept, ate, cooked food and during winter also worked. Heating only one room was more efficient than heating the whole building. Representation Hall Wealthier farms could extend the farmhouse and build an extra room. This room was unheated and only used for big parties, such as weddings, or as a guest room for important guests like the priest. This room was a way to display the wealth of the farm.
VESTIBULE
Chamber Spare room, used for storage. Vestibule Entrance, vinfång etc. A way to prevent heat from escaping from the living room.
1
2
4
5 3 1. Farm House 2. Bakehouse 3. Storage 4. Barn 5. Yard
Scale 1:300
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Narkomfin Housing Moscow, Russia
Collective housing for the workers at the Commissariat of Finance, Narkomfin. Architect: Moisej Ginzberg Year completed: 1932 In common: Employer Owner : State
http://theconstructivistproject.com/ peeking-inside-narkomfin
Greyscale Image No. Units: 54
5000 m2
25
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The architectural planning of Narkomfin aimed at creating a community within its walls and providing for the basic needs of the socialist person.” The Narkomfin block was collective housing designed by the constructivist architect Moisej Ginzburg, planned for the workers at the Commissariat of Finance, known as ‘Narkomfin’, for short.
One V.Greyscale Moscow – Berlin: Interchanges and Heritage of the 20th Century Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
The bridge between the dwellings and communal building.
100
After the Russian revolution, massive urbanisation took place leading to a housing crisis. Communal flats were thought of as one answer to the crisis. Private flats with more than one room were expropriated and turned into multi-family “kommunalka”, where whole families had to share a single room. As an answer to this the avant-garde started experimenting with multi-level dwellings which could not be divided up and giving the dweller a better quality of life. The dwellings gradually became more or less collective: only a few had their own kitchen. The collective facilities offered were a communal kitchen, nursery, laundry, library and gym. The tenants were therefore encouraged into a more collective and socialist life, which also worked as liberating for the women. Ginzberg planned for four buildings with an adjacent park but only two were built. Later on stalinistic blocks were built on the site of the park. Even though listed as a “Cultural Heritage Monument” the building is currently in a very sad state. Some flats are still privately own and inhabited, others are abandoned and squatted and some are owned by the state. The state’s plan is to evict the tenants and renovate the building into a luxurious apartment hotel. The development has been stalled because of protests.
Situated close to the ring road in central Moscow.
Common rooftop garden
The upper street-like corridor leads to flats on floors 3 and 5
The lower corridor is partly outdoors and serves 1st floor flats The building stands on piloti, leaving street level as public space . Under Stalin this was filled in to create more houses. Section 1:500 The outdoor gallery of the first floor connects to the 1 1/2 floor dwellings of type “Cell F“
Axonometric drawing of Type “Cell K”. The dwellings of this type feature a double height living room but no kitchen
The corridor on the 4th floor connects to both 3rd and 5th floor dwellings with stairs
A small, glazed block of collective facilities is reached by an enclosed bridge on the 1st floor
First Floor Plan 1:500
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Kollektivhuset, John Ericssonsgatan Stockholm, Sweden
Apartment building with shared house keeping Architect: Sven Markelius in cooperation with Alva Myrdal Year completed: 1935 In common: Domestic Help Owner : Housing cooperative
Greyscale Image No. Units:
57
2300m2
18
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The building was presented in an exhibition...under the motto: ‘Individual culture through collective techniques’.” Kollektivhuset in Stockholm was conceived from the idea of enabling housewives to access paid employment outside the home by collectivising the maid. This idea was closely connected to the Modernist movement in Sweden with the architect Sven Markelius and social reformer Alva Myrdal as two of its main supporters. Kollektivhuset at 6 John Ericssonsgatan in Stockholm was the first of its kind in Sweden. The building is seven stories high, with the shared functions on the entrance floor and individual flats on the rest. The building was presented in a exhibition for new housing standards in 1934 under the motto ”Individual culture through collective techniques”. The bottom floor of the building houses a restaurant were the residents could eat their meals, or if they preferred to eat in their flat they could get their food sent up in dumb waiters. The bottom floor also contained a nursery where parents could leave their children during the day, evening and even night. It was the first nursery in Sweden to use modern education methods. “Co-housing in Stockholm, 6 John Ericsonsgatan. The modern home ... for modern people.”
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The press criticized Markelius and Myrdal for wanting to dissolve the family, which was not at all their intention. Their vision was that this way of living would facilitate the everyday life of a modern family with equal rôles for men and women, they even stated that this way of living would prevent divorces.
Kollektivhuset is similar to its neighbour buildings in colour, height and materials. The only difference is the restaurant, that today is as a popular café that gives the street more life and character. Kollektivhuset was built on an idea of freeing the residents from all housework. This meant that the house also contained 20 (underpaid female) employees that would serve the residents with meals, baby-sitting, room cleaning and even laundry services. This gave the collective housing units a label as a ”special solution for privileged people”. Today the building is used as normal flats, having lost its original concept. The restaurant in the entrance floor is a public café and the nursery is open to children from the whole area. It is questionable if this building is truly collective as the residents can live perfectly happily without even seeing their neighbours!
HOUSING LEVEL Flats There are three different sizes, most consisting of only one room. All, except the smallest one, contain a small kitchen and bathroom.
Lifts All flats are connected to a dumb waiter. Two apartments share a dumb waiter, which means that they could also be used for communication between neighbours.
STREET LEVEL Grocer’s Here residents, or people living near by the Kollektivhuset could buy food. Today this is a bar.
Nursery Consists of one big play room and two smaller containing a room for babies and a nurse’s office. Restaurant and Kitchen The restaurant was open for the residents but also people from outside the building. Today the restaurant is a popular café.
Scale 1:300
103
Byker Wall Newcastle, England
Mixture of high and low-rise social housing. Architect: Ralph Erskine Year completed: 1974 In common: Low income Owner: Byker Community Trust
Grayscale Image No. Units:
1200 Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“Resident’s satisfaction with their new houses and surroundings has been measured by surveys and has been high. This satisfaction is evident in the standard of care for houses and gardens and the relatively low incidence of vandalism.” Redevelopment Report, 1970s The Byker development by Ralph Erskine is a large social housing estate that was built in the 1970s to replace the dense, unsanitary Victorian slums in the Byker area of Newcastle. Although the architect was based in Sweden at the time it was important for him and his team to spend as much time in the area talking with the residents as was possible, so he set up a temporary office on site during the process. Residents continued living in the area during the building works and great care was taken not to split apart the existing communities that had built up in the tightly packed streets of the slums. During the transition many existing buildings such as pubs, schools and churches were included in the new plan and remained untouched. The most famous element is the ‘wall’; a very long high-rise block that runs along the north of the site. Reminiscent of a fortress, it was designed to create protection against the noise and pollution from the bypass that runs along the boundary of the Byker estate, even though the road had not yet been built during the design phase. Rooms that require less heating such as kitchens and bathrooms are placed on the north side and have small windows. The south-facing living spaces have much larger windows and balconies that look out over communal outdoor greens. Both of the photographs show the shared access walkway.
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Priority was given to elderly people and families for the ground floor flats, as they are easy of access and have small private gardens.
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Shared Hobby Rooms (Does not show exact location, but gives an idea of the density)
All outside space is shared apart from the small enclosed areas directly outside ground-floor apartments and family houses. Ground Plan 1: 10000
The Byker Development is situated in a post-industrial area to the west of the city centre of Newcastle. There is currently a high rate of un-employment which the council is trying to fix with a new purpose-built supermarket.
Bypass & Metro The ‘Wall’ Current Ownership Previously owned by the council, in 2012 the now grade II* listed estate became property of the Byker Community Trust.
Parking Parking is restricted to certain areas of the estate, so most of the estate is car-free, making it safer for children to play. Rubbish into Heat Until 2005, a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant ran nearby using rubbish collected in the estate. As a result of health concerns it now uses gas. According to Futurecommunities.net there are discussions about it being run on bio-fuels in the future. Creating ‘character’ The different areas in the scheme are painted with different colour schemes. Doors, letterboxes etc. were designed specifically for Byker. Although this is one of the things people like about living here, its downside is the high maintenance costs.
Hobby Rooms There are over 50 ‘hobby’ rooms interspersed among the homes. The majority of these now stand empty, though one, known as the Chevron is used and managed by the ‘Byker Forum’, an umbrella group of Tenant Residents Associations (TRAs) for community activities. Elevation of a peak of the wall.
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Walden 7 Sant Just Desvern, Spain
A vertical labyrinth with no repetitiveness or uniformity. Architect: Ricardo Bofill Year completed: 1975 In common: NA Owner : Municipality
Greyscale Image No. Units:
446
NA
30m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The name of the building is inspired by B. F. Skinner’s science-fiction novel ‘Walden Two’ which depicts a utopian community” Walden 7 is a project implementing some of Ricardo Bofill’s earliest ambitions and addressing most of the problems of modern city life. It is located on a plot in the refurbished ruins of an old cement factory. The housing structure benefits from research into modes of living and the idea of providing public spaces and gardens for residents to enjoy an enhanced quality of life.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
Interior View
106
The building consists of a fourteen storey cluster of flats grouped around five courtyards, on top of which are two swimming pools. With a few exceptions, each flat looks onto both the exterior and one of the interior courtyards. At several levels there is a complex system of bridges and balconies for access, producing a fantastic variety of vistas and enclosures. The exterior facade has the appearance of a huge fortification completely painted in red. It is opened to the exterior through large overtures such as windows several stories in height. The courtyards have a lively treatment because of the intensely coloured walls in blue, violet and yellow. The main courtyard, at the building’s entrance, is an extension of the street and a plaza for the use of the inhabitants. The organisation of spaces varies widely. The units consist of different combinations of 30m2 units distributed over one or two floors. Dwellings range from single module studios to four module apartments. The most interesting aspect of the project is the atypical way in which the housing block is approached. Eighteen towers, seven courtyards, a modular but unsystematic grid, and extensive public space create a vertical labyrinth with no repetitiveness or uniformity.
Swimming pools on the roof
Accessible balconies providing fantastic vistas
At several levels there is a complex system of bridges and balconies for access, producing a fantastic variety of vistas and enclosures.
Scale 1:500
The courtyards feel lively because of the intensely coloured walls.
The main courtyard at the entrance is a public place for all the residents and passers-by.
Almost all the ďŹ&#x201A;ats face both the courtyards and the outside world.
Scale 1:500
107
De Drie Hoven Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Large care home mostly for elderly people Architect: Herman Herzberger Year completed: 1970 In common: Elderly or need care Client : Stichting Nederlandse Centrale voor Hulsvesting van Bejaarden.
Grayscale Image No. Units:
267
15,121m2
25
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The main aim was to create an environment in which each person, according to his own limitations, would have the greatest choice of communication on the basis of a varied social pattern within the singular world of a small town forced into an isolation greater than desirable.” The De Drie Hoven Old People’s Centre has all the facilities that would be found in a small town. The residential ‘wings’ converge in a central point nicknamed “The Village Green” where a bank, a hairdresser, a bar, cafés, restaurants and shops can be found. The architect, Herman Hertzberger, wanted to avoid the centre having a “hospital atmosphere”. It wasn’t always easy to persuade staff, but for him, opportunities for social interaction between residents, staff and people from outside the centre was more important than the care itself. Through the architecture, residents are encouraged to make close, neighbourly relationships within the 17 surrounding units in the communal living rooms where nooks and informal seating areas allow people to be in groups, but also comfortably alone. Small, undefined areas encourage residents to fill them with pot-plants and appropriate them how they like. The stable doors of the private rooms can open in two halves, letting residents ‘open up’ their homes, and have a chat with neighbours passing by or just hear the noise outside on the indoor ‘street’ when they don’t want to feel so secluded. Both of the photographs show the shared access walkway.
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The ‘Square’, is a slightly larger area shared with more people than the closest neighbours.
Mutual Exchange It was important to encourage relationships with people from the outside the building. They often come in to use facilities and get involved in events. After a problem with vandalism from local children plots of land were given to them to look after and the vandalism stopped.
‘Unfinished’ Feel Surfaces were initially left rough and “unfinished” to try and encourage residents to choose their own finishes and take ownership of the building. The ‘Villiage Green’
Hobby Room
The design allows for all sorts of formal and informal acivities to take place. Areas for large group activities such as fashion shows can just as easily be a cosy place to sit on your own and watch people go by.
Geriatric Hospital ‘Unfinished’ Feel Surfaces were initially left rough and “unfinished” to try and encourage residents to choose their own finishes and take ownership and finish the of the building. Ground Floor Plan 1: 1000
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Europan: Alter Ego Paris, France Europan is a biennial competition for young architects to design innovative housing schemes Architect: Jean Musseau and Thierry Peltrault Year completed: 1989 In common: x Owner : x
No. Units:
42
(Total)m2
45m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The adaptability of the elements and the sociability of the project make this proposition a possible answer to the migratory movements of a frontierless Europe.” The self-centred, nuclear family gives way to the split–up , poly-central group ‘ego’ and ‘alter ego’: the individual and this end-of-the century’s mutant tribe… Grandchildren, Grandparents, mobility, cohabitation, divorce, tempo and contratempo restructure the ways of inhabiting. Whether consisting of two, three, four, five rooms or more, the dwelling is always the multiplication of a 45m2 module. The basic module crosses the building from one side to the other and is totally independent, thanks to its own private entrance. 45m2
Each unit contains flexible private and collective rooms that can be modified by the inhabitant, on both sides of a central service spine (cables, bathroom, kitchen equipment...) A large studio with a private entrance, a layout mutiplied by 2,3,4…to adapt the dwelling to the intimacy of the individual or the conviviality of the group.
The building’s pliability allows the client to choose both the distributions and the surfaces and thus facilitates his control of his own house’s properties and functions. The building is completed by a ‘silo’ containing services and activities , which it is hoped will generate a certain conviviality. This silo is thus an important integration element for a mobile population who can congregate somewhere outside, but close to their independent modules, fulfilling the human craving for interaction.
110
111
Saishunkan Seiyaku Women’s Dormitory Kumamoto, Japan
Women’s dormitory Architect: SANAA Year completed: 1991 In common: Everything Owner : Saishunkan Co.
Greyscale Image No. Units:
80
290 m2
3,6m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“She would like to make a community of 80 people like one family” The Saishunkan Seiyaku Women’s Dormitory was built to provide company housing in a provincial city about one hour and a half by aeroplane from Tokyo. The building was made to house 80 women during their first year working for the cosmetic company Saishunkan. Instead of optimising the number of private rooms the architects wanted the residents to socialise and thus no place in the building is entirely private. Even the bedrooms are small and shared by four residents. The focus of the building is the light and generous living area connected to the bedrooms. The double-height room contains kitchens, social spaces and toilets and becomes something like an indoor square where the residents are imagined to spend most of their time.
Image sources: http://www2. hawaii.edu/~kbda/1995-047/ index8.htm, http://www.i-gumi. co.jp/showcase/shugo/002. html, http://www2.hawaii. edu/~kbda/1995-047/index1. htm, http://www.i-gumi.co.jp/ showcase/shugo/002.html
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Rye Nishikawa describes the ideas behind the building in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian in 2005: “if you think only of privacy, the best is a jail. That has 100 percent isolation. I want to create some kind of communication. It can be indirect, with seeing the neighbour’s curtain is open and you know he is inside. But if you have no window, you can’t see. I want to create independence and also relation.” In the same article; architect Riken Yamamoto describes Kazujo Sejima’s ideas of the social structure of the building: “She would like to make a community of 80 people like one family. (...) Architects can sometimes change the system with their design. She believed that”.
The building is situated close to a big intersection in the town Kusamoto in northen Japan. It is big in comparison to most surrounding buildings. At first, this project seems extreme by looking at the lack of private spaces, but it is important to remember that it is built as company housing where new employees live for a short period of time. From this perspective, the generous shared spaces might be welcomed as it gives an opportunity for the residents to get to know their co-workers. By agreeing on sharing facilities such as the bathroom, the kitchen and social spaces become bigger and of a higher quality than if every resident had had one each.
Upper floor (entrance) The building is accessed through a staircase on the north facade. The entrance is connected to a caretaker’s room and also to the guest room which is decorated in traditional Japanese style with straw ‘tatami’ mats. The upper floor also contains the shared bathroom that can be used by three people at the same time.
Upper floor (entrance) Scale 1:500 Ground floor The ground floor contains the bedrooms and the main living room with kitchens and toilets. The simple division between the big main room and the small bedrooms is divided into smaller spaces by toilet modules, stairs, and kitchens. This makes the main space more intimate and home-like and less like a public square. Each bedroom is connected to a outside terrace that becomes something like a semi-private street.
Ground floor Scale 1:500
113
MASANS ZUMTHOR Graubünden, SWITZERLAND
Mixture of private and common areas in elderly housing. Architect: Peter Zumthor Year completed: 1993 In common: Low income owner: Municipality
Grayscale Image No. Units:
22
1400m2
30
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area 0
100
“Many of the residents grew up in mountain villages around the area. They have always lived in the country and feel at home with the traditional building materials used here – tuff, larch, pine, maple, solid wood flooring and wooden panelling.” Grayscale optional image, diagram, photograph....
This building is in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, in Masans, an area of the county-town Chur. It is almost hidden in the distance by the surrounding modernist houses in that area. This building was designed for the elderly who might otherwise be lonely and struggle with living independently, or who miss a more active social life. Many of them grew up in mountain village around the area. The residents can mostly live on their own and look after themselves within the development. The entrance leads into a large common space that allows the inhabitants access to their personal living units. This deck access, as created by the architect, subtly generates communal living which could bring more conversation and comfort for the people who live there. This hall is more like living room, or the original Saxon hall, rather than a long corridor, and it acts as an informal collective space and a common place where people can meet and socialise. The residents are welcome to furnish their section as they please and having their own furniture in this area is something that articulates the idea of common life and co-habitation by the architect.
West façade
114
Perhaps in the first instance we don’t realise the dissimilarity between the east and west façade but the west façade contains the windows and also a big balcony for each flat and on the other side the east façade holds the two entrances to the building. These are integrated into the row of double height windows but the space inside is always single height, but with generous ceiling heights.
The building is located in area of Chur called Masans.
Private Balcony The sheltered balcony niches and the living room bow windows on the other side face west, up the valley, towards the setting sun.
Shared entrance porch The residents are welcome to furnish their section of the large entrance porch to the east.
Shared Walkways The entrance leads us to a common area which is shared between the units and the inhabitants get to their units through that communal space.
Tufa and glass cover most of the faรงade. Larch is used for the framing of openings and the interior panelling. The main structure is concrete.
115
Maharashtra Housing Mumbai, India
Acting as a Transit camps for old buildings under repair. Architect: Charles Correa Year completed: 1999 In common: Transit Home Owner : Municipality
Greyscale Image No. Units:
277
NA
20.9m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“...Charles Correa pays special attention to ventilation and to providing humane living environments.” Maharashtra Housing is a high-density housing development in the heart of Mumbai, India, acting as temporary housing for inhabitants whose old buildings are under repair. Since it’s a temporary home, the accommodation area per family is very small [20.9sqm].
One O ne Greyscale G reyscale IImage. mage. IIdeally deally a photograph, p hotograph, rrather ather tthan han ad diagram... iagra am...
Social and circulation spaces
116
Each apartment is eight storeys tall. The units are arranged in clusters of four, so that each flat is a corner unit, ensuring cross-ventilation. The building was designed with only three lift stops, which greatly reduces costs. However, the stops are open community spaces where people can congregate and productive activities can take place, so community life is improved. The Welfare Halls are used by children to do their homework when they come home from school, and in the evenings for watching television. They can be used by women’s co-operatives to generate part-time jobs for house wives—making pickles, sewing, etc. With only three lift stops, all 277 residents are serviced much faster than with the normal floor-by-floor lift corridors. The absence of lift corridors also allowed for the creative structuring of the corner units and the open spaces so that families have privacy, yet have access to the open areas. The staircases placed between blocks ensure the flow of air. The windows are based on the traditional examples found all over Mumbai. The front door has two shutters. During the day the wooden one will be left open and the metal grille closed for security. The Community halls at level four and at the top floor not only provide amenities to the families but also connect all six staircases to the two lifts (in case of mechanical breakdown).
Lift stops at three levels; ground, level 3.5 and level 7.5. At each of these levels there are community activities. The Welfare Halls are used by children to do their homework when they come home from school and in the evenings for watching television. They can be used by Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Co-operatives to generate parttime jobs for house wives. They also have access to outside terraces, which are safely supervised for children.
Scale 1:500
The Community Halls, at level four and the top ďŹ&#x201A;oor, not only provide amenities to the family but also connect all six staircases to the two lifts, in case of mechanical breakdown.
The units are arranged in a cluster of four, so that each one of them becomes a corner units, ensuring cross-ventilation. Three staircases can reach sixteen units per ďŹ&#x201A;oor in each sequence.
Two sequences facing each other can be connected to two lifts, thus if one fails, the other is available. This pattern also allows the usage of large scale freight lifts, which are relatively inexpensive and highly efficient. Scale 1:500
117
Sargfabrik Vienna, Austria
Collective residential complex, initiated by the residents. Architect: BKK-2 Architektur Year completed: 1996 In common: housng shortage Owner : Association
Greyscale Image No. Units:
110
3,000 m2
15
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
Sargfabrik is the biggest self-administrated housing and cultural project in Austria; a “village in the city” with all the important facilities for daily life.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
In the 1980s, a group of people came together over their shared dissatisfation with the high cost of housing. For this reason they set up a registered association “Verein für integrative Lebensgestaltung” (Association for Integrated Living) in co-operation with two architects. Their aim was to create a housing estate based around leisure and community and to design the new living quarters according to their own ideas. Living, culture and integration were their tenets in this project. This innovative form of residential area was built in the “Sargfabrik”, that was an old coffin factory. The housing project was officially registered as a hostel, so that many building regulations would not count. The association itself became the landlord, constructor and operator at the same time. Because of the autonomous status, occupants could take over a lot of responsibilities and were allowed to participate in the planning process. For instance, they could have influence over the floor plan, so that each flat developed in its own style. The inhabitants do not own the apartments, but they share the whole project. In Sargfabrik it is made possible for all areas of the population to participate about 15% of the flats are occupied by elderly and disabled people, and students also play their part. Sargfabrik is a role model for urban housing. It is ecological, social and brings forward an inner-city density instead of urban sprawl.
A garden on top of the roof provides shared collective spaces.
118
The project is located in central Vienna in an old coffin factory named “Sargfabrik” Section 2 - 2
It in an autonomous housing project, where communal activity is the main focus and the design revolves around it. Sargfabrik includes several communal facilities, most of which are open to the public:
Section I - I
Turkish bath with a swimming pool and saunas Laundry rooms Jazz club Restaurant Community hall Seminar rooms Coffeehouse Nursery The cultural events and facilities in the Sargfabrik turned out to be very popular attractions in the Vienna district and re-vivified the surroundings. Not bad for a coffin factory!
The units are flexible multi-story maisonettes that allow various ceiling heights. Each flat has large windows facing southward and an individual balcony overlooking the courtyard The aim was to create a housing scheme that would satisfy heterogeneous lifestyles and different cultures, people of different age and family structures. The housing design allows diversified house and room types to be added and modified by the users.
Scale 1:200
119
KraftWerk II Zürich, Switzerland
Autonomous cooperative housing complex. Architect: Adrian Streich Year completed: 2011 In common: Lifestyle Owner : Association
(Foto: Katrin Simonett)
Greyscale Image No. Units:
106
5588 m2
20
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
KraftWerk proposes a world-wide movement of appropriation of “rust belt” areas as bases for a new civilisation beyond work.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
The KraftWerk project was initiated as a beacon for “rust belt” areas to be transformed to house alternative economies and lifestyles. While there is a lack of housing for the homeless, migrants, young people and others, vast office blocks and industrial buildings stand empty while planners cannot offer viable proposals for their re-use. KraftWerk as a concept explores a world-wide movement of appropriation of these spaces into communities for a new civilisation beyond work. A cooperative (Ban-und Genossenschaft Kraftwerk I) was originally set up in 1993 by architect Andreas Hofer and artist Martin Blum, for a self-organised community where 700 people could live and work. They explored ways of creating local communities based on autonomous definitions of their lifestyles, economic self-sufficiency and cultural values. In Kraftwerk production, agriculture and culture will be combined to provide diverse ways of life. One of the aims of the co-operative is to live together cohesively in a community. Inside and outside, the house offers many ways of living together that are a constant negotiation between the public and the private, between being together and being alone. KraftWerk is also seen as an approach to solving the crisis of a society based on waged work, which is starting to disappear more and more. The project explores new forms of making a living in the current social context that must be tested. The results and process of building Kraftwerk I was a success. The cooperative has since then grown steadily and subsequently initiated a number of similar projects.
120
“Cluster apartment”
The site has plenty of access to nature. The building is situated near a wooded area and between small fields. Almost no parking spaces are provided.
The housing design is a conversion of two buildings in a former 1970s children’s home. A new interstitial building connects the two existing ones and wraps the structure with broad terraces. Outdoor terraces and exterior circulation give community space, providing possibilities for interaction for the residents. There is also a community room on the ground floor. The building offers a broad variety of units, ranging from small one- and two-room flats and larger units with private living and dining rooms to completely unconventional “cluster apartments”. Spaces within units are fixed and there is no flexibility offered in the layout. In the clusters, small private units are combined with larger communal rooms. The private rooms have access to a community kitchen and living space. All of the access to private space is through community space – one cannot enter one’s own unit without passing through shared space. Residents are encouraged to spend time in the shared spaces, since many of the functions of a typical house are in these areas. Scale 1:200
121
Silodam Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Built on the water, the building sits on a ‘table’ of concrete. Architect: MVRDV Year completed: 2003 In common: x Owner : Municipality
Greyscale Image No. Units:
165
19,500m2
60m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“...A mixed programme of houses (for rent or for sale), offices, work spaces, commercial spaces and public spaces had to be arranged in a 20 metre deep and ten-storey-high urban envelope.”
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
Side View.
122
In the western part of Amsterdam harbour an extensive urban operation has been undertaken in order to densify the city and to meet the demands of the market, even in one of the more vulnerable areas. A former dam with a silo building on top has been transformed into a new neighbourhood that consists of a series of components: a dam with a sunken car park, renovation of the old silo buildings, the required mix of less expensive social housing, the underwater protection barrier against oil tankers, the required deep piling foundations and the expensive temporary dry-dock constructions. To help pay for parts of this operation, a new housing block at the end of the dam was proposed. The problem of a fast changing housing market was approached with a series of different housing types. The demand for a big variety of living spaces on the one hand led to different types of flats but the development as a whole could be seen as a counterbalance to the increasing individuality. The apartments differ in size, cost and organisation. In order to accommodate this process in time, a series of neighbourhoods of 8 to 12 flats were created, which surround a corridor, a garden, a gallery and a hall. As a counter-form these organisations lead to specific living types: flats with a panoramic view; with views on both sides; double-height flats; flats with a patio; flats with a view to the harbour. As a result, an unexpected sequence of semi-public routes appeared: from galleries on one side one can walk via slits and corridors to galleries on the other side and higher up. Connecting all the houses with the hall, the public balcony, the harbour, the barbeque area and garden, the library, fitness area and toy exchange, a three-dimensional neighbourhood materialises.
Dwelling Distribution
Gymnasium. Hobby room for multiple programmes and activities. Patio. Balcony. Garden House. Hobby room for multiple programmes and activities.
Senior
Single
Couple
Family
Hall for all the residents for different activities. Marina for residents who own boats.
Technology
Body (Variations of apartment occupation)
123
Cité Manifeste, Mulhouse Paris, France
Social housing Architect: Lacaton and Vassal Year completed: 2005 In common: none Owner : SOMCO, Mulhouse
No. Units:
14
2,262m2
35
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“...this question of double space and the question of cost are the key points because it gives you the freedom to change the standard and to alter the regulations.” type of dwelling
Unit
2
59m2
T3a
1
100m2
T3b
1
94m2
T3c
2
90m2
T4a
3
125m2
T4b
3
130m2
T5a
1
120m2
T2
T3
living area
T4
46 - 50
60 - 65
73 - 85
88 - 100
T5 T5b Total
minimum and current living area in social housing
1 14
128m2 1505m2
additional living area %
20%
50%
+ winter garden
Total interior surface
25m2
99m2
32m2
147m2
17m2
126m2
13m2
103m2
45m2
185m2
19m2
164m2
45m2
180m2
% upper surface with winter garden
50%
100%
25%
80%
381m2
private courtyard
15m2
0/34m2
15m2
18m2
15m2
35m2
0m2
34/42m2
15m2
18m2
15m2
47m2
110%
50%
19m2
+ garage
15m2
36m2
162m2
15m2
107m2
2066m2
180m2
501m2
Mulhouse was known as the “French Manchester” in the 19th Century because of its industry. The worker’s quarter, with 1,500 small houses was a model for many other towns looking to industrialise and house their new factory workers. At the time, the standard size of the houses was 36 square metres for a family.
scale :1:200
first floor
In the early 2000s, when the factory associated with the houses was closed and demolished, five architects were invited by the managing director of Somco (a social housing management company) to build a new example of what social housing could be on the site of the factory.
ground floor
Every flat should have a part of the ground floor and a part of the first floor
124
The main conditions were that the housing had to be energy-efficient, and had to keep to the budget which was fixed at the beginning of €75,000 for each flat. The choice of using technology from greenhouses is very interesting because they offer in a standardised package all the necessary systems to control the climate in terms of ventilation and solar protection. It was important to make sure that the rent would not increase because they had developed a larger space, but after all, the cost of the construction per flat was not any more expensive than ‘normal’ housing.
The families in Mulhouse do not have many constraints on their use of the spaces; it is just recommended that they do not make holes in the concrete.
The specific construction system was very efficient in terms of cost to build the main volume and the main structure. It is a platform of concrete made with columns, and a concrete slab built with prefabricated elements.
All the facades were 90 percent glass with special filters for the sun but also for chemical protection, using special ‘chemical curtains’.
winter / night insulation
scale : 1:500 curtains closed
closed blinds, shading and energy economy:
winter garden
closed doors
retained heat curtains closed
curtains closed
summer/ day curtains : controlled shading
:
closed blinds, shading and energy economy:
By including a secondary envelope, a volume around the house which supports a temperate climate between the outside and inside, you save on energy because the double skin acts as insulation, but it is also large enough to become an additional living space.
Large natural ventilation
open doors
curtains controlled shading
open doors
curtains controlled shading
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125
Moriyama House Ohta-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Creating a community of small dwellings. Architect: SANAA Year completed: 2005 In common: Middle income Owner: Private
Grayscale Image No. Units:
10
290m2
20
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings 0
100
Percentage of shared ďŹ&#x201A;oor area 0
100
This project proposes a new perspective on communal living by creating a community of small dwellings.
Grayscale optional image, diagram, photograph....
The Moriyama house is located in a traditional neighbourhood of Tokyo which contains many small streets, alleys and gardens, that people use daily for instance to grow vegetables or for children to play in. As an experimental house, designed by one of Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best known contemporary architects, an innovative living concept drives the design. Co-existence and cohabitation are the most important principles for the Moriyana house, and residents are forced to interact with each other and live collectively, encouraging them to inhabit the common space. This co-existence occurs by creating a community of small dwellings. In the site the small white blocks are scattered, creating between them a variety of open spaces like the gardens, courtyards and alleys familiar in the area already. Tenants and pedestrians may freely come and go among the buildings. The alleys act as informal collective space and common places which people can use in various ways. There are more than ten volumes on the site each accommodating a different requirement. These volumes are independents from one another and can be used in many different ways.
Interior view of one of the boxes.
126
All buildings might be used by the owner, Mr. Moriyama, and it is he who chooses which units should be included into his residence or rented out. The selection may change over time which consequently changes the circulation within the site. He may switch among the series of living rooms and dining rooms or use several rooms at a time according to the season or other circumstances.
The Moriayama house is located in a historic part of Tokyo called Nishikamata.
Shared Court There is no fence that marks the property, thus presenting the house as something that belongs to the public as much as it is a private dwelling and this lack of physical boundaries encourages its inhabitants towards moments of coexistence. It also emphasises the relationship between the outside and inside, public and private.
Shared Bathroom Despite the lack of boundaries in the site, the tenants must walk outside their private units for showering and enter the detached shower unit made almost entirely out of glass. The architect did not cover these windows with curtains, so this could be provoking to those both outside and inside. Scale 1:200
Garden The individual volumes create a series of individual gardens between them, opening up the building to the surroundings.
Each wall is 6cm thick and reinforced with steel plates.
127
Svartlamoen Trondheim, Norway
Experimental communal housing in wood. Architect: Brendeland & Kristoffersen Architects A / S Year completed: 2005 In common: Students Owner : ?
Greyscale Image No. Units: 2
28
974m
35m
2
/ Person
http://www.architecturenorway. no/projects/dwelling/svartlamoen-2005/
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The inhabitants have been involved in all phases of design and construction and have partly completed the actual building works” In the early 1990s the area of Svartlamoen was occupied by a group of people stating the need for cheap housing and years of political struggle followed. Ten years later in 2001 the area was re-zoned as an experimental arena for city ecology.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
The highest massive wood building in Norway.
128
In an open architectural competition for social housing in the area in 2002, the young architects Olav Kristoffersen and Geir Brendeland participated and won. Afterwards they founded their practice! Their proposal consisted of two buildings forming a south-facing garden. The main building is a five-storey block of communal housing units with offices on the ground floor next to a two-storey block of six studio flats. The main concepts of the project were user participation, sustainability and flexibility. The struggle was to make an affordable yet high quality living arrangement. In the communal flats, half the area is shared, giving inhabitants access to a spacious kitchen, living area and balcony for the price of a ‘normal’ single room flat. The room heights vary from 2.8 to 4.5 metres, with each person having an average area of 22 m2. The walls and floor slabs of the two blocks are constructed from compact timber elements, all exposed internally. The load bearing external walls give freedom to move internal partitions as required. The idea was to leave some of the finishings to the tenants to complete, the wood making that feasible. Space and money was saved on the circulation which consists of external steel stair cases, giving the inhabitants direct access to the common garden.
Use Transparent Yellow to highlight Common mo mon m on A on Ar Areas. re reas eas ea ass. a
Located in the harbour area of Trondheim
5-6 private rooms per floor with 2.8-4.5m ceiling height and an average 22m2/person floor area.
Common area with kitchen, bathroom and living room.
Access to all floors through three separate external steel staircases.
Bottom floor commercial area. Section 1:200
Additional two storey building with six studio flats.
Common terrace.
First floor private rooms.
Common area with centrally placed kitchen and bathroom.
Access from external staircases.
Common inner courtyard.
First Floor Plan 1:200
129
Tietgenkollegiet Copenhagen, Denmark
„Residence hall of the future” designed on limitless budget Architect: Lundgaard & Tranberg Year completed: 2006 In common: Student Dormitory Owner: Foundation
Greyscale Image No. Units:
360
26,515m2
74m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The house itself says what the idea behind it is: community. You can walk all the way round on all floors. The house does not turn its back on anyone.” Tietgenkollegiet was designed to be an exemplar for high quality student housing. It is supposed to mix people from different universities, backgrounds and cultures. Individual rooms are very similar, varying only in the size of the window and rent prices between 3000 - 3500 DKK.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
One of the shared rooms on the ground floor
130
The building is organised around five staircases, with clusters of twelve rooms placed between each two. The inhabitants of each section of twelve rooms share a kitchen and two smaller adjacent rooms. This pattern is repeated on six floors. The ground floor is dedicated to common functions only, with rooms like the assembly hall, laundry with colourful washing machines, wood workshop, sewing workshop, two music rooms, a gym, computer & printing studio, study room, bicycle repair etc. Those rooms are considered to be the main advantage of this residence, but the students pushed the concept even further and transformed the shared rooms on the upper floors for specific purposes like a cinema, console gaming, board games, pool and table football, oriental lounge or English Gentleman’s Room. Sometimes, the central square hosts events open to the whole city, concerts being most common. Living at Tietgenkollegiet seems to be a dream of many students, and around 300-500 of them make it through the criteria and procedures when the possibility arises, which is four times a year. Only ten to fifteen of them can be accepted each time, and the decision is made by the Recommendation Committee, consisting of four current residents and a representative of the administration.
It is located on the verge of Ørestad, the most recognised development area in Copenhagen “The kitchen plays a very central role in residence hall living and as such it is important that the room is a pleasant place to be.
Section | 1:500
kitchen
At Tietgenkollegiet, 12 residences share one of the total 30 spacious kitchens that are equipped with tableware and kitchen utensils, 4 fridges, 2 cookers and one huge cooker hood that contributes to a good indoor climate; even when all the residents of the kitchen are cooking up a storm. The residents also have individual lockers for foodstuffs or extra kitchen utensils.” - a quotation from official website tietgenkollegiet.dk “I've had the pleasure of being in this building when on exchange in Copenhagen - my friend was living in one of the units. It's truly an amazing building to visit and its appeal only grows the longer you stay there. The common rooms and kitchens are by far my favourite feature. Since they're all oriented to the centre of the circular courtyard, the entire building is energized by the activity that's happening in each.” - Audric - 9 months ago a comment on Archdaily
one of 5 staircases
common kitchen
Plan of level +1 | 1:1000 P
The similarities between Tietgenkollegiet and the Fujian Tulou may originate from a publication by Jens Aalberg-Jørgensen in Danish “Arkitekten” magazine in November 2000, with a very comprehensive study of those specific Chinese buildings.
131
Casa Dell’Academia Mendrisio, Switzerland
Student housing with shared living room & kitchen Architect: Jachen Könz Year completed: 2006 In common: Students Owner : ?
Greyscale Image No. Units:
72
2,000m2
28
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The design focussed on the search for new models of collective and domestic life, with as many parts of the building as possible serving as gathering opportunities...” Casa Dell’Academia consists of two housing blocks for students of the Academy of Architecture at Mendrisio. The student rooms are located in the upper part of Casa Dell’Accademia while the bottom floors contain bicycle parking and common areas. The dormitory is a path of different degrees of private and shared spaces.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
The two housing blocks enclose a collective garden for both students and visitors. A pathway goes through this leading to the exterior corridors. The entrance in the glass facade leads straight in to an open living room area connecting four private units. The private units are placed towards the back of the buildings, away from the common spaces. These units are then connected two by two through a shared bathroom. The garden between the building is the main common area, and the housing blocks are meant to serve as walls enclosing it. Casa Dell’Accademia provides spaces ranging from public and common to private, but other than the outdoor area, the spaces are only shared among 2-4 students (bathrooms and living rooms). The interior space is only intended for and used by students. The rooms are rented complete with lamps and furniture such as beds, desks and storage. The common living rooms are equipped with a kitchen and furnished with a kitchen table, chairs and curtains.
Exterior corridor & kitchen
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The building is located between the campus and a park.
One of the shared kitchens/ living rooms. The design is very distinct and there is not much room for the students to leave their traces in the area since it is so sleek and ‘finished’. The glass façade towards the garden reveals the common living rooms, while the façade facing the exterior is more enclosed and only shows the repetition of the cells. The building opens up towards its interior and it’s residents, but it seems to be more closed towards the city and its inhabitants. Private bedroom Connected to the shared bathroom and kitchen/living room. Shared bathroom The bathroom is shared between two students and has doors connecting to the two private rooms. Collective garden The shared garden with its serpentine sculptures seems to be quite sterile and not very inviting with the clean surfaces and the housing blocks overlooking like a panopticon. Exterior corridor The glass façade to the kitchen/living rooms can be opened up to connect to the corridor, blurring the borders of the units. Plan 1:500
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27 Social Dwellings For Young People Barcelona, Spain
Low rent, one-bedroom flats Architect: Emiliano López & Monica Rivera Year completed: 2007 In common: Young Owner : Catalonian Government overnment
Grayscale Image No. Units:
27
2,550m2
48
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“...a small terrace-like space adjacent to the kitchen that people can appropriate as an extension of their apartment, stimulating social interaction and neighbourly communication” The block of flats, situated in Sant Andreu in the north of Barcelona was the winning design in a competition for young architects organised by the Catalonian Architect’s Association (COAC) and the Catalonian goverment in 2003. The block is compromised of twenty-seven small units, most of which are designed for 1-3 people. Although the floor area of the flats is quite small, the architects have made the most of the ‘awkward’ site making sure that each flat is as light and ‘open’ to both the street and the shared courtyard as possible. The architects hope that ‘social interaction and neighbourly communication’ will be encouraged by the appropriation of the the shared walkways that connect the units. Similar corridors were also used in the well-known ‘Casa Bloc’ socialist housing block by GATCPAC (Catalan Group of Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Architecture) in the same district of Barcelona. Flexibility is key to the design, with undefined areas in each flat that can be changed depending on the user’s needs. For example, the small alcove by the bedroom could be used as a sleeping nook or a study. Eating can take place in the privacy of the living room or be pulled out onto the terrace where the adjacent window can be used as a serving hatch. Common life doesn’t seem forced but allowed in a gentle and encouraging way.
Both of the photographs show the shared access walkway.
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The apartment block is situated in an ‘akward’ site in the Sant Andreu area in the Northern part of Barcelona
Section 1: 500
Carpark This is a shared space but does it count as ‘common’? Maybe neighbours do interact here on their way to work. In the future, when we are less reliant on the car will this become something else? Stairways Access to all levels is by a common stairway to the east of the building.
First Floor Plan 1: 500
Shared Court The walkways look over a shared courtyard, typical of the area. Entrance Residents first come through one of the two entrances off the street where there is also shared bicycle storage. Ground Floor Plan 1: 500
Carpark entrance
Shared Walkways
Window Hatch The deep window recess between the terrace and the kicthen can act as a hatch to pass out food but also allows the flat to be connected to the neightbours passing by without the feeling of being too exposed.
Private Balcony or “buffer zone” A sort of inside and outside space that connects the flat to life on the street below. Apartment Floor Plan 1: 100
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New Tulou Guangshou, China
Affordable rental housing for people migrating to cities. Architect: Urbanus Year completed: 2007 In common: low income Owner : housing developer
Greyscale Image No. Units:
278
13700 m2
22
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
The ambition is to introduce a “new Tulou” to modern cities, and, with careful experimentation of form and economy, transcend conventional urban design. After the rapid economic growth which occurred in China in the last 30 years, the issue of public social housing development stagnated and got somewhat forgotten. As a result, living conditions for lower-income groups became a major problem in the big cities. The change started from a leading housing developer, who wanted to provide an affordable alternative to typical high-rise blocks.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
Perforated outer wall
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The layout and form of the New Tulou follows the traditional Chinese way of dwelling. The inhabitants can relate to that, which makes their transition from rural areas to cities a little easier. The round shape is unique in the city’s grid, keeping the noise and chaos on the outside and affording a more intimate and comfortable interior environment. The new design, however, abandons the defensive solidity of the original Toulous’ perimeter wall and opens up to the outside through a perforated screen. The courtyard is made accessible through multiple openings. The lower floors contain shops, a restaurant, a library, computer room, fitness and bicycle parking. There are no parking spaces for car owners. The design was preceded by research into the affordable housing standard in the region, which lead to a co-living model, allowing four or five people to live together in a unit of 40 m2. The programme concentrated on creating a larger public area, while keeping the private space minimal. It has been shown that the inhabitants formed a sense of community quickly and they organise events and interest groups within the Toulou.
New Tulou uses “leftover” plots after rapid development.
“We were designing a rental apartment for people whose monthly income is below 1,500 yuan (1,850 SEK) and who would be very reluctant to spend more than 200 yuan (250 SEK) to stay at any place” - from the architects
Comments from Archdaily: Jan Wareus • 3 years ago Impressive - this must be what Framton called "critical regionalism". More of this, pls! Yunar Winardi • 2 years ago Neat, clean, modern and green(trees). This is masterpiece, stunning. imagine • 6 years ago how amazing the building and the case study. Chinese modern architecture is getting better and better!
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Lange Eng Copenhagen, Denmark
A collective take on the traditional suburban terraced house Architect: Dorte Mandrup Year completed: 2009 In common: Owner : Private and collective
http://www.langeeng.dk/ Greyscale Image faelleshus/den-groenne-gard/
No. Units:
54
6,260m2
31
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“The backbone of Lange Eng, the common meals served six times a week, free up time that I can spend with my children.”
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a http://dortemandrup.dk/LangeEng-Collective-Living-copenhaphotograph, gen-2009 rather than a diagram...
View from dwelling towards the inner courtyard.
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The initiative of Lange Eng came from a group of eight friends with the common search for a new type of living. They could not stand the thought of a secluded suburban life style and began discussing and investigating alternatives in 2004. A year later they decided to make what they wanted themselves, and started the task of getting more people to join their project. The architect Dorte Mandrup was appointed and the design phase began. The initial idea of 25-30 dwelling doubled in size because of the large plot and the wishes of the contractor. The concept of the building was a collection of typical Danish row houses with a large common inner courtyard and additional communal spaces. The dwellings are privately owned but the common spaces are collectively owned and cared for by maintenance groups. The common dinners are prepared on a rotating schedule: for three days every six weeks every individual helps out. Eating together is optional, but encouraged. There are also other optional activity groups formed from people with different interests within the community. Even though the initial thought was to appeal to a diverse group of people, it turned out that the inhabitants of Lange Eng are quite a homogenous group mainly highly educated, left-leaning couples in their 30s with young children. The building’s outer facade is dark and closed relative to the light and open internal facade, which speaks of how the project turned out in the end: a great community within but with little to no real relation with the surrounding area.
Situated in the suburb Albertslund outside of Copenhagen.
The dwellings come in 7 different types: four based on area: 71m2, 95m2, 115m2 and 128m2. All except the 71m2 apartment have two ďŹ&#x201A;oors. The other 3 types are individual. A common wooden terrace joins all the houses towards the internal garden. Entrance from the outside. Type B Dwelling plan 1:200
Northern entrance to the common garden. Common storage.
The large, 4,000m2 common garden features play areas, farming and recreational places. A varied terrain makes it a good place for play. The individual dwellings do not have their own gardens.
The 600m2 communal building has a common kitchen, dining room, 20 seat cinema, cafĂŠ, workshops, playrooms, lounge and a multi-hall for sport or dance.
Situation plan 1:1000
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Oderberger Straße 56 Berlin, Germany
Housing of variable size + experimental space Architect: BARarchitecten Year completed: 2009 In common: Ownership Owner : Shareholders
Greyscale Image No. Units:
5-7
900m2
180m
2
/ Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
”…this project proposes an “internal urbanism” that actively contributes to the continuing evolution of the city as meeting place.” BAR was founded in 1992 as an initiative to work with the combination of research and practice with the physical model as a central tool. BAR is active in the debate on new ways of housing and new versions of urban ‘mixture’.
One Greyscale Image. Ideally a photograph, rather than a diagram...
A unit with a shared gallery
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Oderberger Straße 56 is an attempt to reorganise the interaction between living and working spaces, to rearrange and mix the uses. The building is a compilation of overlapping volumes with different degrees of privacy. The mixture of activities within the building are meant to be in direct relation to the urban landscape it sits in, and to act as an extension of the city. The bottom part is connected to the street with a basement workshop, café, shop and a mini gallery. The first floor studios contain short term residential areas and rental work spaces where the architects also installed their studio. There is also an experimental non-profit gallery. The upper part of the building contains both rented and owner-occupied apartments and guest rooms. A communal garden is located on the roof. BAR also worked as architects in a new and expanded way with this project. Long before the construction was initiated the land was acquired by a small group of shareholders including the architects. The construction was partly financed by an owners’ pool.
The building is located in the central part of Berlin
The ceiling height and the levels are constantly changing (2.10 to 4.20 metres) through the building, resulting in a meshwork of staircases. One reaches through the whole building and some units have internal stairs. Each unit of the Oderberger Straße has a different plan. There are five large flats (120m2 each). Two of them can be divided into two separate units of 80m2 and 40m2. Sections 1:400
In this case both are then reached from the shared staircase. The flexibility enables a variety of inhabitants and visitors with different needs that can change over time yet still be accommodated within the building.
-9 -9
±0 -9 +4
-9
+9
Half of this area has a double ceiling height. The space can be reached from both of the bedrooms. If this unit is used as two flats, the shared space is a big part of them, but it could just as well be used as one ‘normal’ flat.
±0 +9
±0
Plans 1:100
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Cité A Docks Le Havre, France
Converting unwanted containers into student dwellings. Architect: Cattani Architects Year completed: 2010 In common: Low income Owner: Municipality
Grayscale Image No. Units:
100
2400m2
24
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area 0
100
Old, un-wanted shipping containers are transformed into sustainable flats that can house a hundred students.
Grayscale optional image, diagram, photograph....
This building is located in Le Havre which is an urban French commune and city in north-western France. Its port has the highest total traffic in France, after Marseille, and the largest container port. All flats have bathrooms, a kitchen, free wi-fi and have been carefully designed to be well insulated from sound and heat, presumably taking account of the possibility for condensation. Much of the success of the design is in the way the containers are distributed, creating empty spaces and common areas between the flats. The interior of each container is modified using a rubber layer to reduce vibration and heat while the exterior has a series of metal gantries added to create communal places like landings, balconies and walkways, Furthermore, some parts of the containers are cut out and replaced with large windows and doors for ventilation, views and to create a relationship between the inside and outside of the building. The gantries act as a structural support for the containers, while allowing the units to be staggered. The lack of surrounding physical boundaries helps residents and visitors come and go freely - the courtyard can perform as communal space or a collective area where everyone can enjoy it in different ways.
A communal space between two containers.
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Between two roads, the site is not otherwise partitioned from the town.
Shared Court The court is located between two blocks and from each container one is able to see the court. All the staircases are approached from the court, which thus acts as a passively-policed public realm.
Shared balcony The block on the south side of each two containers shares a balcony.
Scale 1:200
Guest room Guest rooms and bicycle storage are provided on the ground ďŹ&#x201A;oors.
Bike Storage Easily accessible from the courtyard, the design encourages bicyle use. Shared Walkways There is one staircase for every six containers, so it is likely that neighbours will
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ETSAV Student Housing Barcelona, Spain
The residential course at ETSAV means the architecture students are given their own housing unit. Architect: Harquitectes + dataAE Year: 2011 In common: Students Owner : ETSAV
Greyscale G reyscale IImage mage No. Units:
57
3101m2
31
m2 / Person
Percentage of rented dwellings: 0
100
Percentage of shared floor area: 0
100
“...a small terrace-like space adjacent to the kitchen that people can appropriate as an extension of their apartment, stimulating social interaction and neighbourly communication” This housing block was built on the same site as the ETSAV architecture school, and was designed to adapt to the low density of the surroundings and relate directly to the campus. This has resulted in a two storey building with a central courtyard (originally designed to be covered in winter, but not implemented) and a facade made from wire mesh planted with climbing plants that provide sun shading during the hot Spanish summers. It has no lifts and with its deck access is designed to assist the students in working together and socialising outside their rooms, while increasing their time spent in nature while outside the studio. A prefabricated housing technique was used, so although built in environmentally unsound concrete, it is assembled without wet trades so can be dismantled in the future and re-used. Unfortunately this also means the rooms are less flexible - every room has an en-suite for example, which can be considered inefficient use of space. Plans were also made for natural heating and cooling using the courtyard, but it is unclear how well this works without the courtyard’s roof.
Demonstrating how the sun louvre facade has become a backside access from room to room through the windows.
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The sun shading facade has become an impromptu public space as it is used as a walkway to connect the back sides of the rooms, with students climbing in and out of windows rather than the formal front door. Thus the rooms become semipublic and more accessible.
The rooms all face the courtyard, meaning they all get direct sunlight, either modulated by the overhanging roof or the facade in winter. In summer, the facade and overhangs prevent excessive heat gain from the sun, and the courtyard helps with naturally cooling the rooms. The trees outside also provide shade so the courtyard can be used during the day without getting too hot.
Scale 1:300 The central courtyard and access routes are public, as are, since construction, the balconies on the facades. The rooms are in a lighter shade because they are often used by many different people because of the freer association that occurs with socialising in the courtyard, or spur of the moment visits through the window.
Floor F loor P Plan lan @ 11/500 /50 00
Scale 1:1000
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