Forms for Collective Living. Artifacts for Block Disorder.
AA 2021-22: https://pr2022.aaschool.ac.uk/programmes/experimental-8
In recent years we have witnessed the decay of compact and dense urban areas across the world. Urban exodus to city outskirts after Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has accelerated this process already started by the increasing appropriation and transformation of these residential central areas to service economy by real estate speculation. This phenomenon is compromising liveability in cities as it overrides what were fundamental areas for social relations in which common everyday life unfolded. The gridded area of the Eixample in Barcelona is an epitome of this situation, where each inherited block configuration works as a summatory of autonomous unrelated lots ready for private investment with no understanding of possible interactions between neighbours or collective living.
Under these circumstances, Experimental 8 proposed to reinvent this existing city block by infiltrating or inserting some strategic artefacts of disorder. These artefacts will act as catalysts for collective relations while re-signifying the block as the basic unit to provide interpersonal relations at city scale. Taking at least a third of the overall block volume, these operations introduced housing programme for those population sectors that cannot access housing property in contraposition to the pressing market forces. Supportive housing models such as cooperatives and social housing were considered to boost affordable housing schemes and networks of social relations and mutual care among block inhabitants. Finally, connecting social opportunities with climatic conditions, the unit investigated Mediterranean domestic cultures as essential for sustainable collective inhabitation. Elements such as outdoor living, transitional and in-between spaces, and the rituals they generate when related to environmental strategies on light and material, were the major focus. A research on local materials and traditional construction techniques was also conducted within the regional environmental conditions as well as sustainable passive strategies to promote ventilation and the filtering, screening, and modulation of light.
Students: Eylul Ece Aksoy, Somia An, Teodora Boskovic, Dila Cakmak, Yasemin Cengic, Sindi Dojaka, Romy Faisal, Laura Faloughi, Vasco Giovannoni, Antje Hoeg, Luca Luporini and Zoe Mirkovic.