RO-007_STARTER HOUSE
Competition: Innovative Living Concepts for the New Millennium
The title ‘Starter House’ was taken literally and the design plays with the dynamics and inherent contradiction of ‘starting’ and ‘landing’. The concept questions the standard arrangements of inhabitants and allows space for various also changing configurations over time.
- It was part of the concept to distance the first time buyers home – regardless of typology or location - from the notion of conventionalism and final settlement. While accepting the scenario of suburbia and its typical sites laid out for terraces or semi-detached houses, the design explores the programmatic, spatial and ‘aesthetic’ potential inherent in this typical setting.
- Based on the balanced interaction of Function, Pleasure and Beauty a design is developed which not only provides a simple building envelope but reacts to contemporary and future needs to enjoy the natural green surroundings / garden space, expectations of individuality, of living arrangements changing over time and at the same time represents an achievement.
The spatial organisation is developed from various parallel movement diagrams. The typical standard plot (the building could easily be placed on a different sized plot without any alterations to the structure) is divided along its depth (from street to garden), which maximises points of contact and visual and physical interaction between external and internal spaces. Through the fan-out, fur-type and partly mobile façade every house presents itself differently - depending on the point of view- and changes its appearance while walking past.
A simple timber structure, a compact footprint and a timber cladding support sustainable and economical requirements.
A great flexibility in combining the various spaces and functions is inherent in the concept. Depending on the relationships of the users the spaces allow for different but distinct programming.
The diagram on page 003 shows three possible user groups (flat-share of 4, a family, a couple with separate granny flat) and the potential the spaces offer to be used as open plan spaces or separate private entities in order to cater for changing configurations.
The architecture aims to correspond with the fluent space of media and the complexity of contemporary non-linear life patterns and to express functional and visual flexibility and mobility.