The brief calls for high-quality, dense social housing that integrates the existing community and fosters a future, enriched sense of place. Incorporated within is a provision for commercial and public spaces – both as a response to the site’s industrial presence and as a means of creating vibrant streets that contribute to the local economy and sense of belonging.
The thesis explores the concept of a ‘dwellscape’ – a continuous domestic landscape composed of equal-sized, indeterminate ‘places’ that support inhabitant appropriation in multiple ways, addressing the fertile potential of the in-between. The ambiguity, rooted in the homogeneity of rooms without a defined hierarchy, enables flexibility. This idea extends beyond the physical structure to consider patterns of living, movement, and social interaction. Movable partitions remove thresholds, forming an active interior that does not contain but continuously frames and re-frames space to accommodate the residents’ ever-changing physical, mental, and emotional needs. This process of concealing and revealing uncovers spaces to the exterior, where generous balconies and walkways serve as front and back gardens. Acting as a secondary skin, the outer framework negotiates between the modularity of the interior and the inevitable irregularity of its surrounding context. It forms a layered spatial composition in which the façade becomes habitable, dissolving the indoor/outdoor threshold and mediating between the public and private realm.
A considered response to site-specific conditions, the proposal challenges outdated spatial planning principles rooted in functionally predetermined, cellular spaces. Instead, it proposes a framework for social housing design – one that can be adopted and re-imagined in other urban contexts to better serve contemporary dwellers and their evolving lifestyles.
