collective | japanism | May 2020

Bachelor project

Rethinking collective living in Aarhus

The task of the semester was to build co-housing units in Aarhus “latinerkvarteret” inspired by the subtle porosity, found in Japanese architecture. The project sought to explore the urban courtyard as a place for condensing city dwelling – as a response to the growing population demand for housing in the city’s midst.

Accommodation prices has risen to a point where, only academic families with 1-2 children, are able to afford the apartments. This is a contradiction to the general belief; that the foundation of a healthy city - is a diverse user group. Therefore, I want my project to be a study in socio-economic ways of living together multiple people under one roof. By viewing the private and public; not as clear divisions - but rather as layered constellations of functions and social dynamics. The goal was to extend the phenomenological perception of ‘home’, from the private bedroom to the collective space, through a series of porous screens.

The intentions were for the building to serve as an incubator for young people whose lives evolve from early study/ working years to a more stable, independent budget in the few difficult years after graduation. They are childless couples and singles aged 19-34 and I imagine them living in the building in cycles of '10 years. By reducing the individual square meters, the common areas thus become the new place where you have your daily life. Kind of like a theater scene where the daily life plays out and remedies can be switched as needed with once in storage.

The building is situated on the northern side of the VIA building in a courtyard, where there previously was a large open space. With a central placement, the courtyard is subdivided into reduced and specified zones. The existing buildings around the site all have closed facades in brick, plaster, or concrete. I wanted the building to fit into the existing context, but with an apparent kinship with the other existing timber frame houses found in the area. I therefore imagine a house with a spatial orientation from introverted and formal spaces to the east, and extroverted and social spaces to the west. The 'gap' in-between creates room that can temporarily be occupied for various activities. The timber structure is the framework for the internal flexibility of the house and the different layers of the building can be independently replaced as needed (design for disassembly).

Moving into the building, the kitchen/ dining area is the social center of the house which the circulation revolts around. Moving upwards by the staircases, we arrive at two corridors that distributed into the different apartment, as well as gaining access to the shared toilets and bathrooms. Each Apartment has a staircase furniture with integrated drawers, cabinets and a sink.

Grund floor   130 m2

first floor  171 m2

secound floor  105 m2

TOTAL:  406 m2 (gross)

Project data:

4 x Type A   15,32 m2

4 x Type B   12,99 m2

2 x Type C   24,81 m2

2 x Type D   20,02 m2 (net)

site area   490 m2

site efficiency  82,8%

area pr. inhabitant 25,4-33,8 m2