So.. Back in the beginning of 2012 I was in college helping with a case study about adaptation processes in middle-class housing units by Dott.ssa Arch. Cristina Dreifuss-Serrano. The main idea of this study was to explore self construction within apartment buildings (see attached picture from google).
As you can see in the picture, The architect plays with the volumes above the exterior corridors to open and close the space but through the years, owners has been adding dorms where it used to be a double height corridor.
I was fascinated by the idea of self construction in apartments buildings!, to know that architecture can mutate through time due to their users experiences opened my eyes and it made me believe that good design should be prepare for the future whether this future is a technological one or just one with different needs. I started studying different duplex typologies and playing with the looks of the apartment, the size of the exterior corridor, the orientation of the exterior corridor and the dorms above the social areas(see attached picture).
The design process started kinda backwards and jumping back and forth, starting from the residential unit to the urban design (public patios, streets, etc) to the apartment building to the facades and so on. I wanted for the building to show its users character and design choices within a well designed frame.
This frame will allocate life and will change the walking experience through time without losing the unity in the design of the building.
The materials of the building will prevent a hard reading between a finished adaptation and a ongoing one and nature in the corridors will give a human scale for the users to feel back in a neighborhood.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my exploration on self construction as much as I enjoyed designing it. Please let me know what do you think and if you have any questions or ideas to explore together.
thanks.
