In layouts
All ninety case studies present units with a combination of rooms that are labeled as mono-functional. Sizes are based on certain key furniture or artifacts and minimum circulation standards. All kitchens present a kit of built-in appliances. Their internal arrangement responds to minimal ergonomics, the direct connection to dining and living areas is predominant. Bathrooms can grow and receive natural ventilation or light depending on price ranges. Bedrooms receive daylight and most have built-in closets; they are dimensioned based on different sizes of beds, which can be placed against a wall or centered to leave circulation around at least one edge.
Relationships between rooms present very few variations. En-suite areas bond the bed and bathroom. Some bigger apartments distance dining from living rooms. Unit design is reduced to the accumulation of rooms and overall area management. The minimization of unprogrammed space suppresses corridors, foyers, and other common areas. In all types and price ranges, units present a similar kitchen-dining-living sequence and offside bed-bathroom arrangement.
It is obvious that these ubiquitous layouts cannot respond to the wide range of current lifestyles. How could these designs offer more flexible organizations based on diverse living scenarios?
Design Operations
Proportion
The amount of space destined for different programs affects the ways in which housing inhabitants interact with one another. By reducing the space provided for circulation, bedrooms and bathrooms, the distinction between collective and private spaces is radicalised. On the other hand, by enlarging and connecting rooms, almost without corridors, the collective expands throughout all programs.
Project Descriptions
29- Cores and Corridors/ “Make the Private Compact” – London
The discrete towers are linked by a long corridor that serves as circulation space between the buildings and compact private living cells within.
Doubling up the party walls divides the floor plans into two zones: the dark, internal, quiet spaces and the day-lit, exposed, and loud areas. This allows the radical segregation of private and communal activities within the co-living units.
Original Project: Neo Bankside by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, London.
30- Sectional Crossings/ “Communal Gradation” – London
In the co-living tower each maisonette is proportioned in a way that allows the coexistence of permanent residents and temporary lodgers.
The transformation of the central core facilitates separate access to permanent and temporary residents, while the living areas are shared between all. The sectional organisation provides a diagram of cohabitation for various ownerships and tenancy types.
Original Project: Keeling House by Denys Lasdun, London.