Domestic Dreams, Uncanny Urbanism

The experience of urbanity is collapsing upon the domestic sphere. Virtual communication systems and an increasing migrant population contribute to changes in the effective size of families, pushing the boundaries of nuclear family housing structures. As families grow larger and interactions are pushed away from the urban fabric, dynamic spaces of inter-nuclear family interaction are replaced by the ambiguity and the flexibility of the complete domestic interior.

As a response to this shift, DOMESTIC DREAMS, UNCANNY URBANITY proposes a Cooperative Housing development that uses a series of radical intra and inter-unit shared spaces to create extreme flexibility and shared interaction.

THE FRAMEWORK consists of multilevel units organized around gallery and free levels, where each gallery level houses the infrastructural elements of the unit, freeing an entire floor, or free level, for flexible contingency. Spaces between units become shared and circulation spaces, with shared facilities located on the gallery levels and shared living space located between the free levels.

THE MID-RISE units are sandwiched between areas of public program and interaction. On the ground floor, athletic facilities, a daycare, and bike storage open up to the central courtyard. Above, a clear story for the athletic gym, library, and commercial space are broken by stairways which mediate the connection between courtyard and urban fabric.

To the south, a live-work unit structure provides a hard BUFFER separating both court and mid-rise from the noise of the adjacent railway. This buffer is recessed into the ground, mediating topological separation and allowing the structure to fold around the railroad track, reflecting noise away from court and mid-rise.

This FRAMEWORK alone does not provide the flexible basis on which a cooperative and decentralized urban fabric operate, necessitating infill and subdivision. Over time the infilled framework would develop contingency and dynamism, ultimately coming to approximate the complex lives which its inhabitants live. The spaces both private and public would come to resemble an UNCANNY URBANITY — something brought about through the collective aspirations of its constituents... through DOMESTIC DREAMS.