THE FOUNDATIONS
The theory behind this research project takes a wide range of sources into account to match the diversity of modern life, particularly in regards to care requirements and domestic care labour. The literature in particular has had a significant impact on the direction of the project, providing a foundation from which to work from.
This literature covers a range of subjects, both architectural and not. Calle’s artistic compilations touch on topics such as proximity, closeness, and privacy; while Watson describes her book 'City Publics' as being “about how people rub along, or don’t, in the public spaces of the city”. Urban’s article looks at the phenomenon of allotment-shed residency in Berlin’s “green slums” during the 20th century, rooting itself in architectural culture. Criado-Perez and Fraser, however, focus more on political and feminist theory, with the former using quantitative data to support her research into gender bias and inequality.
This literature covers a range of subjects, both architectural and not. Calle’s artistic compilations touch on topics such as proximity, closeness, and privacy; while Watson describes her book 'City Publics' as being “about how people rub along, or don’t, in the public spaces of the city”. Urban’s article looks at the phenomenon of allotment-shed residency in Berlin’s “green slums” during the 20th century, rooting itself in architectural culture. Criado-Perez and Fraser, however, focus more on political and feminist theory, with the former using quantitative data to support her research into gender bias and inequality.
THE LITERATURE
Sophie CalleFrench artist Sophie Calle's artistic compilations‘ - Suite Vénitienne’ and ‘The Address Book’ – were fundamental in forming my understanding of space and the impact proximity and privacy have on its articulation.
The former, through its documentation of ‘Henri B’ and his movements through Venice, evoked a strong desire for individual space. Calle's writing also echoed the weight of the public gaze that I experienced when on site in Berlin. It is an omnipresent weight on your shoulders, to be thus watched, and for someone to traverse between public and private realms. Similarly, ‘The Address Book’ showed the depths that can be found in everyday life, as well as our desire to shield the personal realm from scrutiny. There is an understanding of the tendency to keep certain aspects of ourselves private, while allowing others to be more overtly available. Excerpts from 'Suite Vénitienne' (Calle, 2015)
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Sophie WatsonIn her exploration of the ‘eruv’ in Orthodox Jewish communities, Sophie Watson provided a metaphor for the invisible spaces becoming prominent in this research.
With all activities associated with work forbidden outside of the private realm on the Sabbath, Orthodox Jews have had to explore nontraditional solutions to the demands of modern life whilst still allowing them to abide by the Torah. Limits on acts such as writing, washing, and carrying, restrict movement in the public sphere on Shabbat – particularly for women, children, and the elderly. In response, the eruv was introduced - a near-invisible boundary marked by existing buildings, poles, and wire. The ‘invisible space’ of the eruv is identifiable only by those in such communities, serving to extend their private realm beyond the traditional boundaries of the home. Photo of eruv poles from 'City Publics' (Watson, 2006)
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Caroline Criado-PerezThis ties into Caroline Criado-Perez’s research on data bias and inequalities in everyday life – particularly regarding care-loads and elevating the lives of those impacted by such unpaid work. Criado-Perez focuses on the gender data gap, and how this increases gender inequality in society.
In the context of this research and its site, Germany seems forward-thinking when it comes to issues of gender equality. However, further research clarifies that this is not necessarily the case. For example, the gender pay gap stands at 21%, one of Europe's highest, and recent protests in Berlin called for more equal division of labour between men and women in the home, which is particularly relevant to this work. As such, there is the potential for architectural interventions that consider and highlight care and unpaid labour to work towards balancing the gendered workloads that remain prominent in society today. This might begin to be achieved by revealing their existence through increased visibility, or through the division of labour in communal spaces. 'Invisible Women' (Criado Perez, 2019)
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THE THEORY
Berlin's "Green Slums"The idea of community care and connections was inspired by Florian Urban’s historic account of allotment-shed residency in Berlin’s “green slums” (2013, p. 222) during the 20th century. At the time, overcrowded tenement flats were passed over for these unplanned communities, where residents enjoyed fresh air, healthy food,
…an idyllic landscape between flowers and apple trees as well as a pedestrian-oriented environment that gave children endless possibilities to play and to experience the grown-ups’ life world [sic] between houses, workshops, and cultivated fields. [The residents] praised neighbourly help, community spirit, and the taste of homegrown vegetables (p. 226) Compare the above description of these ‘slums’ with this of the Berolina blocks and their landscape, Berolina had all the alienating geometries of high modernism: long housing blocks … stood guard over broad green spaces that saw little use. Some of the buildings had been retrofitted with balconies in the 1990s, and the common space between them was adorned with token landscaping. But those lawns retained an empty sterility. Nobody used them (Montgomery, 2013, p. 122). Of the two, the former sounds far more appealing, filled with life and occupation, however basic its facilities may be. In contrast, the latter seems barren and lifeless, only sparsely populated by some trees. In realms such as Urban’s “green slums” (2013, p. 222) and of the occupied edge and central courtyard outlined above, residents form relationships with one another through increased proximity and social interaction as they pass through communal space. Forming such connections increases the likelihood of community support in caring for children, the sick and elderly, and so on. In this way, architectural intervention can be socially sustainable, bringing about an ethos of neighbourly care and affection. |
Flexible vs. Adaptable ArchitectureThrough the introduction of adaptable, nonprescribed space, this proposal makes use of Schneider and Till’s work on flexible architecture in their book ‘Flexible Housing’ (2007). Discussing Stephen Groák’s distinction between adaptability and flexibility, they define,
… adaptability as ‘capable of different social uses’ and flexibility as ‘capable of different physical arrangements’. Adaptability is achieved through designing rooms or units so that they can be used in a variety of ways ... (p. 5) Flexibility on the other hand, by Groák’s definition, is achieved by altering the physical fabric of the building: by joining together rooms or units, by extending them, or through sliding or folding walls and furniture (p. 5). Flexibility is the more architecturally rigid of these two approaches, only allowing for the one variant of ‘flexibility’ catered to in the design. As such, Schneider and Till refer to this as ‘hard’ architecture. Adaptable design, however, in its lack of specificity, has been termed ‘soft’ architecture, and is consequently better suited to “respond to the volatility of dwelling” (p. 5). As such, while the work completed in this research makes use of aspects of flexible design, it can best be described as a ‘soft’ architectural proposal, creating spaces of indeterminate use to cater to the wide variety of care needs present in modern society. 'Flexible Housing' (Schneider & Till, 2007)
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The Eruv as MetaphorThe idea of the invisible space formed by the eruv is also explored in this research, through the introduction of a ‘soft’ architectural response to the need for un-prescribed space. The new structural edge acts as a boundary to the site, while shifting the building’s entrances from the north to the south ensures all residents enter through the new communal landscape.
This new boundary extends the private realm by shielding the existing building’s southern façade from public scrutiny, affording these spaces more privacy. The enclosure also sets an invisible boundary around the space between the existing block and the new structure, marking it out as semi-private, and clarifying its relation to the adjacent buildings. |
Servant and ServedThis study made use of Louis Kahn's concept of “servant and served spaces” (Marcus & Whitaker, 2013, p. 177), whereby utility and circulation spaces are made distinct from those of rest and repose. Applying this concept to the existing block made evident how servant spaces are often relegated to the darkest recesses of buildings, as though to hide their existence. The consequence of this is that acts of care and domestic labour become invisible, reducing their importance in the eyes of society, as has been highlighted by Nancy Fraser (2016), Caroline Criado-Perez (2019), and many of their ilk.
This research introduces the idea that an architecture of care might work to shift the servant spaces from the recesses of the home out into the light. In relation to this research, this is important in how this might make the invisible visible, bringing attention to the large amounts of domestic care work performed in society, and who this work is being done by. If a shift in servant and served spaces was introduced (as seen in the diagrams below), it might begin to challenge and bring attention to the notion of domestic labour being confined to a specific subset of society. This move could also serve to allow areas of repose in the private home increased generosity of space and privacy, as life spills out into the unplanned semi-private realm. |
The abrupt shift between the public and private realms in the existing context.
A gentler gradation between public and private provided by the new proposal
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Study of servant and served spaces in the existing block
Study of servant and served spaces in the new proposal - shifts 'servant' realm into the light
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REPRESENTATION
Bullet JournalThe design of this scheme such that it pertains and responds to care, relied on the creation of the schedules and matrices of care, and how these came to bear on the formation of 16 living units. In the process of tabulating the information required for this, I was made aware of the similarities between the formatting of this work and how I organise my life through use of a Bullet Journal.
Created by Ryder Carroll (2018) in an attempt to better organise his life to suit his own specific care needs, the Bullet Journal system is described as “the analog system for the digital age” (p. 13). It acts as a framework around which people can organise their lives according to their unique care and support needs. I use my own bullet journal as a means of organising my life and managing my health and care needs through use of modular trackers and tables. This has come to bear on the design project through the tabulation of data in a series of colour-coded grids, tables, and matrices. The Bullet Journal system is dynamic in how it functions as an organisational technique that adapts and changes with users and their needs. It forms a framework that, while initially set out to address users' needs at a specific point in time; can be adapted to address future needs as they arise. In this way, the design project proposed in this research project echoes the aspirations of Carroll’s organisational system – a barebones, adaptable framework that can be adapted and used in a variety of ways to suit a wide range of different needs. |
Graphic StyleTo best demonstrate the architecture of care at work in the design proposal for this research study, the living units created through the Schedule of Care were applied to the building in question, to demonstrate how they might live. Graphically, this was done through use of colour, dashed lines, speech bubbles, and arrows. Each living unit was assigned a colour to illustrate the overlaps of care and connection at work in the drawings of the existing site and new proposal.
This work demonstrates how the new proposal can improve the lives of the residents through careful consideration of their care needs. It also shows the spatial and atmospheric qualities of the new central realm, including the connections and facilities it affords the residents.
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