The autumn semester explores the collective, shared and mutualised qualities of housing, i.e. the intrinsically urban character of domestic space.
Following an analysis of a number of reference kitchens, groups of three will be asked to design a household for 100 people in which the links forged between residents revolve around the kitchen(s) programme and the way in which energy and climate resources are collectively managed and shared.
The project is a non-sited, as a manifesto.
5 themes will punctuate the design and will be the subject of specific representations:
Kitchen
A space for conviviality, a technical space, a space for comfort and food, a space for processing and manufacturing, a space for energy, a space for pleasure, a place where the animal and plant worlds (food) enter the home, a space once reserved for women: the kitchen is the mirror of our societies.
Sharing
If the word sharing designates both what separates and what brings people together, the habitat project responds to this ambivalent need that is a constituent of society. Each student spatially defines the terms and conditions of neighbourliness, and defines the commonality of the inhabitants.
Household
The household offers a shared space in which to be alone or together freely. The idea is to imagine a prototype architecture, to explore the way in which typologies can be de-standardised and/or renewed in the light of new practices and spatialities, new relationships – in this case through the kitchen(s). The exercise is exploratory in nature, questioning the potentially urban nature of domestic space and imagining other possible forms of habitat that can be adapted to contemporary lifestyles and issues.
Motif
Interweaving intimate and communal spaces, the exercise will result in the drawing of a large motif, the subject of an abstract composition.
Climate
An ecology of human relations is established not only by sharing spaces but also by pooling and networking material, climatic and energy resources. The habitat must offer residents the possibility of controlling resources and the seasonal nature of the climate. The 4 elements (water earth fire air) together make up the different climates, different cooking techniques and are pretexts for developing energy strategies that inform the architecture of the household.
