Dwell One

Img 1: Louis Kahn’s idea of Architecture that comes from making of a room

Making of a Room

“How marvellous that when I am in a room with another. The mountains, trees, wind and rain leave us for the mind, and the room becomes a world itself”

Louis Kahn’s sketch, Architecture comes from The Making of a Room, portrays spatiality with only a person, whilst describing the room as a state of mind; a space under one’s authority and for personal reflection. However, materiality and spatiality interpreted from sketches clearly demonstrate the room as organised in relation to society; the room has a clear geometrical centre, with a fireplace to the right, defining the centrality of the room. The door signifies the room’s connection to a wider world around, simultaneously extending an invitation to enter this space. Windows allow light and wind, creating an environment. 

The sketch shows a person and a chair by the window indicative of man’s desire to create space not only for him but also with the need to invite another into this space. 

Img 2: Demographic shift in single perspective illustrated.

Table for One 

Demographic Research Journal’s issue says, Living Alone: One-person household in Asia (2015), addresses this type of household as the fastest growing living situation in the world, especially in Asia. 

The current social welfare system and institutions not only fall short of supporting one-person households but the distribution and utilization of resources are known to be limited to and facilitated for an ideal family household. “Table for one is”, a request that is becoming an increasingly common occurrence amongst urban dwellers, especially and according to The Guardian in the European and North American. In East Asia, especially in South Korea and Japan, this phenomenon has manifested & exaggerated. Whereas in Japan, ramen cubicles for one are a trend, South Korea has even created a term for lone diners honbap. 

Yet, dining alone is associated with the abnormal, away from the usual practice and globally accepted notion of well-being.

Img 3: Single dwelling becoming a conscious choice (Illustrated)

The idea of a living space 

Reflecting on the fact that there is an increase of single-person households, it has become imperative to imagine housing and dwelling outside of the ideal family household; single-person household, old age home, hospice, sanatorium, home for orphans, group home, etc. 

How does a single person dwelling confirm its normality and well-being? Sitting at the threshold of communal and private, or simultaneously confining and liberating, the single person dwelling is purposed as both: for isolation and for production, shift between these two states of being. 

Within the current urban situation, the notion of single-person dwelling is not limited to individuals outside of the ideal family, rather it has become an essential question towards the consciousness within individuals that how to be well-being without depending on the image of the ideal family. 

Img 4: Single person dwelling (Idea) 

Brief

Challenge- Designing a single person dwelling within a community, neighbourhood and/or an apartment/housing in which the dwelling is located. 

The dwelling may or may not include all basic functions for dwelling, such as kitchen, bathroom and so on. Instead of designing self-sufficient dwellings, participants are encouraged to create a narrative that describes a supporting system & engagement to fulfil basic functions, thereby articulating the relationship between the dwelling & society. 

Description: Relationship between the solo dwelling & society must portray the notion of individual subject contrasting from that of within a family home.

The design of a single-person dwelling must confirm its spaces & materiality of interiors articulated with the subject lives in. Sententiously, the plan of a community, neighbourhood and/or apartment/housing establishes how single person dwellings are part of a larger social structure.  

 

Objectives

• Spatiality: Draw and define the space for the boundary of a single-person dwelling and how the space is distinctively different from a family dwelling.
• Materiality: Illustrate furniture and objects to[ reflect occupants characteristics.
• The Plan: The plan within which single person dwelling (s) is located must be organised and articulate the structure of community, neighbourhood.
• Well-being: Interpret & narrate the state of well-being in relation to the solitary nature of single-person dwelling which is independent of family household & external engagement with society.

The proposal should address the future of single-person dwelling focusing on long term living and well-being within society. It is encouraged to pay attention to an ageing society, migrants within rapidly urbanizing cities and/or various minority groups. Design must be developed both for the interiority of the dwelling (small scale) and relationship with the society (large scale)

Img 5: Context of the challenge - Illustrated

Context 

Within the course of the competition, participants attempt to understand the backgrounds of a globalised economy and rapidly urbanizing city centres with its emphasis on human demographics. Cities are gaining their productivity and competitiveness through urbanisation which is possible because of migrations, both rural-urban and international. It is evident that studies of these migrations identify its various types and their impact on development, knowledge economy and consecutively housing that creates diverse urban fabric. 

Of course, migrations bring with them issues of ethnic identities and their associated territories, but the complexes created through these networks of people that allow for greater tolerance permit vast opportunities to engage with those unlike oneself, and it is these that are essential to the development of individual subjects. 

The site for the proposal must be located in any urban area of the participant's choice. The size and scale of the design proposal must be informed with the single person dwellers that live within the proposal and scale of society. The dwelling could be retrofitted to an existing building available within the focus area of your choice or a new building in a hypothetical plot.