Open House
The project combats loneliness and social isolation within residential environments.
Open House builds on my experience as an auxiliary nurse at a psychiatric hospital, where I gained insights into the rich relationship between space and social behavior. The project, a modular kit-of-parts system, challenges prevailing urban housing models and proposes a new typology of urban housing foregrounded in inclusion, connection, and well-being. The system recalibrates the division and distribution of space and reimagines circulation space as a social spine of multifamily residential environments. The inclusion of generous and thoughtfully shaped transition spaces between the individual apartments and the common areas stimulate interaction and build trust among the residents. A retractable wall element enables the residents to regulate their level of engagement with the shared social programming, while effectively increasing the size of the apartment units. Pockets of green space are scattered throughout the building and a cooperative, vertical garden anchors the community.