Designing residences for social interaction: the co-living

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction:

The definition of a way of life has evolved. Self-reliance and Individualism are
key words that influence the way we live today, and the tendency to be
self-satisfied and to say “we-are-our-self-enough” is reflected both in the
family and in the way we live now-a-days.

Unlike previous generations,where ownership of a house was a major goal of

life, accessibility to experiences and a sense of community are also becoming
increasingly important . At the same time another question is arising- if this
individualism is affecting our well-being of our social relations ?

Addition to that factors like population growth, increasing ecological

awareness, and a new generation intolerant of poor service, are challenging the
existing built majorily pointing out traditional housing typologies. The problem
is most evident in urban areas where we are seeing an unprecedented rise in the
demand for compact, affordable, and sustainable accommodation. A failure to
meet this need is forcing people to live in low quality accommodation,
compromising on location, amenities, and expenditure. This is fostering
unsustainable, isolated lifestyles. Though we live in closer proximity than ever,
feelings of home, community, and ownership are being increasingly lost.

“Architecture is the body and social activities are soul of the body, because of this
reason, architecture, society and culture are closely linked together and of course it is
the most important thing in a house than other space.”

The spaces that modern architects created in residential complex were great for
residents and families to spend time in, however the lack of variation and the
vulnerability of these spaces were not initially known.

With new generation being prone to loneliness and a growing demand for
single-person households, we need to think of such spaces that can promote
social interaction and build neighborhood community through sharing of
collective spaces. In this scanario co-living can be a better alternative.
Co-housing, is a housing type that promotes common practical and social
activities amongst the inhabitants. It presents opportunities to improve resident
experience and quality and teaches us on how to make better use of available
services and space. It also demonstrates how space planning can modify our
actions and experiences, and challenge pre-conceptions of housing today.

1.2. The Definitions and Meaning of the important parameters:

Coliving: Co-living is a residential structure that accommodates three of more

biologically unrelated people. It is commonly contained within a single
dwelling, sub-divided into a combination of public and private spaces. Its
practice is built around shared values and objectives, and to accommodate the
needs of the group and the rights of others. The “co” has been proposed to
mean ‘Collaborative’, ‘Communal’ and ‘Collective’, and thus includes a wide
variety of practices.

Spatial Planning: Space planning is an in-depth analysis of how

physical space is used in structures and placements of such units strategically to
generate optimum results helping the ease of acciblity on end user.

Interactive spaces: In our context it is a space that greatly impacts the lives
and help develop healthy relationships for people of all age and
socio-economic groups living in a urban residences.

1.3 Significance of project:

In spite of the analysis of the numerous critics of modern architecture we still

do not know exactly why modern buildings didn’t provide our expectation of a
resident. The architecture post worldwar is considered to have focused on four
principles of life, work, leisure and traffic.
“Functional zoning destroyed life and liveliness of cities and neighborhoods
and made neighbors strangers. At this time a lot of disruption in the community
came into existence and residents need remained unanswered.”
When horizontal neighborhood became vertical, the private area was
highlighted more and the public areas became less important and problems
emerged, the result was Social solidarity.

Traditionally, streets provided a place for various events, but todays, massive
infrastructure requirements and a condensed population require high-capacity
traffic flow, so streets no longer serve as meeting or communication spaces, as
they once did, or certainly not to the same extent.
Public spaces inside residential high-rises experience the highest occupancy
rate. But, compared to exterior spaces, little attention has been paid to interior
social spaces. The design of most interior public space in high-rise buildings
completely ignores the need for social engagement, as illustrated above. As
these spaces are designed for circulation, not for socializing, residents have
very little opportunity for interaction with each other.

Although the communal spaces(like parks) that architects created in residential

complex were a great space for residents and families to spend time but due to
lack of variation in the vulnerability of these spaces they become little more
than walk-through areas.

Hence all these factors defines the need for well defined neighbourhood and
communal spaces for the residences of this day. Doing this can significantly
changes these public spaces from an ‘area you need to pass through to get
home’ to an ‘area you can enjoy and experience’ at all times.

Against this major problem, a new typology of housing called co living is

arising. It has been proven to provide a high standard of living and
psychological well-being. It’s ability to combat the problems of traditional
housing typologies, makes it important to find about the workablity of this
system.

1.4 Central claim

A well designed system for socil interaction in residences can highly impact the
problme of social solidarity existing today.

1.5 Research Questions

 How the design of present day urban residences is the reason beind isolated
society of modern day?
 What are the design requirements communities to increase social
interaction in an urban residential space?

 How the communal requirements of different user groups should be

evaluated to design a social interactive space for them in a residential
space?

 How can we better facilitate our environment through the design and
implementation of co-living concept?

1.6 Aim of the research

The aim of this research is to identify the potential of improving social

interaction in an urban housing, where different demands of users are solved
jointly.

1.7 Objective of the research

 Understanding various parameters which catagorise the present day

housing as an isolated society.
 Analysing how to increase the probability of interaction through change in
design.
 Understanding interior elements (furniture layout, Materials,Colour etc) to
increase the the efficency of interactive spaces.
 Understanding the psychological behaviour of different user groups to
generate spaces according to their needs.
 To analyze the public spaces to private space ratio in a residential for a
balanced experience .

1.7. Scope and limitations of the research

1.7.1. Scope of the research

 The scope of research would be to identify the design problems of the

existing housing of urban fabric. the spatial elements in hospital building.
 To identify the design requirements for an interactive space and
implementation of such spatial elements in todays residences.

1.7.2. Limitation of the research

For this research the scope is limited to catering to interactive spaces in
residences of urban areas
The design requirement for public zone of residential areas will be covered and
private zones for interaction will not be considered.

1.8 Methodology

This research will be conducted using the following methods:

 Topic formation and background understanding.

 Formation of aim and objective.
 Stating the central claim and research questions
 Defining the scope and limitation.
 Gathering research papers and forming literature review of the same.
 Gathering primary and secondary case studies.
 Critical analysis of two case studies.
 Generating spatial elements for an interactive environment.
 Understanding implementation of such elements.
 Studying the conclusion.