Housing production has been relying on the same spatial configurations for almost a century, catering to a vision of domestic life that no longer constitutes the norm. The widespread housing shortage, the issue of affordability, the rise of single-person households, and an aging population prompt a re-evaluation of existing housing models to address a broader range of demographics and adapt to the changing needs of city dwellers. The following explores contemporary collective housing models that provide the framework for new dwelling experiences and support current lifestyles.
In Greater Boston's city of Malden, Massachusetts, an inter-generational community of thirty households hired an architecture firm and collectively designed their cohousing community. Responding to the cohousing community's request for collective living in an urban setting, French2D designed a typology-challenging building with individual residential units connected by a framework of shared spaces. The result is a 48,700 sqft unique and colorful type of multi-family housing. It is one of a growing number of cohousing projects in the United States.
Like most countries, India faces a perpetual housing crisis. As the world’s most populous nation, with an urban population expected to grow from 410 million in 2014 to 814 million by 2050, this becomes a pressing concern. The Indian built landscape brings further complexities in the form of a pervasive market-driven approach and the need for socially relevant housing. Looking into the future, how will India address the needs of its growing population to house the next million urbanites?
Despite the bad reputation of public housing in the United States, organizations, planners, and architects in Portland, Oregon are determined to create affordable housing that does not sacrifice quality or aesthetic appeal. While Portland has developed a bad reputation regarding its homelessness problem, in the past four years resources have flowed in the right direction, and designers have taken this in stride to design livable and striking buildings, within very restrictive budgets. Through innovative and creative approaches to construction and design, these organizations and designers have utilized federal, state, and city resources to make these types of projects a reality.
What is architecture? Is it grand designs with complex structures, defying the laws of physics? Is it simple, everyday buildings that, when put together, create the urban fabric? In the mid-18th century, Laugier introduced the concept of the Primitive Hut, a structure, essentially a home, designed and built to meet the primitive man’s basic needs: shelter from the elements and nature. Any structure that meets these requirements would be considered authentic architecture. However, since then, our needs have evolved and are much more elaborate, especially when it comes to our homes. They need to provide shelter, security, thermal comfort, and space. Our homes have to be economical, environmentally friendly, and have access to the internet, among many other prerequisites. So what would the ideal modern human’s home, and thus true architecture, look like?
The Science of a Happy Home Report, carried out by Resi first in 2020 and then again in post-pandemic 2023, sought to discover exactly what elements people believed made up the ultimate happy home. The results were six prominent qualities: a home that is adaptable to meet our changing needs, a home that allows us to connect and build relationships, a home that mirrors our personality and values, a nourishing home that provides the conditions we need to thrive (i.e. air quality), a home that helps us relax, and a home that offers security and makes us feel safe. These needs, however, aren't being met for the majority of UK homes, and that's where Resi comes in.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen inequalities laid bare, especially when it pertains to the unequal allotment of architectural resources to people. The start of the pandemic saw Europeans who could afford it, for example, leaving the urban metropolises they lived in and going away to their second homes in the countryside. We’ve also seen how poorer people in places like New York, for example, do not have adequate access to green spaces – a critical part of human well-being. Within this conversation is also the issue of social housing - known by multiple names around the world - and how the social housing that gets designed in the present and in the future should respond to ever-changing global needs.
Although the use of color can be employed to hide or disguise a specific characteristic, it can also be used to highlight them. Within the Latin American territory, we can observe that shades of red, green, and blue have predominated in residential architecture, aiming to integrate a language appropriate to the context in which it is implemented.
Slovenia has continuously redefined design across rural life. With an architecture that’s intimately tied to the country’s geography, Slovenia emerged as a crossroads of European cultural and trade routes. This produced hybrid building styles and typologies defined by history and exchange. Expanding upon modernist roots and the work of architects like Max Fabiani, Ivan Vurnik, and Jože Plečnik, contemporary building projects are designed through ideas on multiplicity and coupled programming.
Mixed-Use Development in Nanjing / UNStudio. Image Courtesy of K.Wah
In recent decades, China's residential landscape has undergone a transformation setting primarily informed by social community ties now prioritizes the needs of rapid urbanization and modern lifestyles. Traditional courtyard houses of China once activated the urban realm, harmoniously blending private residential zones with public areas of the neighborhood. Today, the country is speckled with private developments and gated communities that have severed the connection between residential areas and the urban realm. Amidst this transformation, MAD Architects' Baiziwan Social Housing in Beijing emerges as a visionary attempt to reimagine urban living. By embracing a mixed-use program, this residential complex integrates itself with the surrounding neighborhood, fostering a renewed sense of unity with the bustling metropolis. Not limited to China alone, numerous housing endeavors worldwide have embraced this approach, reclaiming their ties to the urban realm.
The European Cultural Centre (ECC), a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering cultural exchanges on an international scale, showcased its sixth edition of the Time Space Existence architecture exhibition alongside this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. The 2023 installment was centered on the theme of sustainability in its various forms, encompassing subjects related to migration,digital building technologies and material research, future urban developments, and housing, bringing together architects, designers, artists, academics, and photographers from 52 different countries.
Through diverse mediums and perspectives, participants have explored the philosophical concepts of Time, Space, and Existence. With a total of 217 projects on display, the exhibition is held at Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and the Marinaressa Gardens in Venice, throughout the six-month duration of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, running from May 20th to November 26th, 2023. Focusing also on emerging young architects, designers, and researchers, the 2023 edition of the exhibitionis a proactive endeavor to reimagine alternative lifestyles and reconceptualize architecture within the contemporary landscape.
ArchDaily and VELUX have joined forces to provide you with an exclusive coverage of the highly anticipated UIA World Congress of Architects 2023. Watch the discussion panel on the future of next-generation homes, moderated by David Basulto, founder and editor-in-chief of ArchDaily. Get to know more of the world of next-generation homes as the panelists delve into innovative approaches, cutting-edge technologies, and sustainable solutions that are reshaping the way we live.
There is a general agreement that our built world should become climate neutral. But, how construction will have to change to make this future a reality is still uncertain. At the same time, the economic and social framework for construction and especially for housing construction are changing. Components, building products, and building systems are being reused, and this is accompanied by a new ethic of design and construction and a new aesthetic of architecture.
Almost 500,000 buildings have arrived at the Port of Los Angeles in 2021. Well- not exactly. Over 490,000 shipping containers have arrived, though. If there’s a design trend that has caught the world by storm over the past decade, it’s been the rise in transforming shipping containers into buildings as a form of architecture. But are shipping container buildings just a fad that was used to propel ideas about taking every day or is there more substance to creating giant Jenga-inspired structures?
Social Housing is a principal element for a more democratic city. These housing structures provide decent dwellings for all citizens in urban areas and connect them to the rest of the city and its services.
Unfortunately, in many countries, the term "Social Housing" still has a negative connotation. It is often seen as a project that seeks to build the largest number of units with cheap materials, and little-to-no concern for the quality of life of its residents. Often times, it is designed for monetary reasons, as opposed to a project that serves the city and its people. Although this fact is recurrent, there are several examples that portray the opposite, in which architects manifest their political point of view through exceptional projects with innovative solutions that improve the urban experience.
Over time, the space of the bathroom in the domestic sphere has increasingly gained importance. Nowadays, it is conceived as a space for well-being and health, where one can have an experience that meets the needs and requirements of its users. Beyond the different technologies implemented, the designs applied, or the materials used, architects and designers demonstrate, day by day, the multiple configurations and arrangements that these spaces can adopt through their projects, developing strategies both on an aesthetic and design level, as well as on a technical and functional level.
