GSA Showcase 2021

Menu

The Half Stepped House

The lines between labour and domesticity are blurring. The monumental influence of The Online is starting to seep in to our culture to a degree which is seriously altering how we conduct our daily life. This proposal is one that is not trying to go against this paradigm shift, but rather dance with it.The architecture is one of non-determinant adaptability. What is in the foreground is the type of life the inhabitants choose to live, not one which the dwelling is forcing on to them. The design is in the background.

With the half step as the key architectural gesture, the spaces are divided in a psychological way, rather than physical. The inhabitants can choose whether they want a certain space for domestic or labor purposes, and how much of the living space they want to divide, with the methods they themselves prefer. The only constants are the service cores, with which bathrooms and kitchens are connected. With the half-stepped apartment, one can choose how much of one’s living space is dedicated to labour or domesticity.

Concept

This project began by looking at the half stepped floor slab as the main separator of space within a living unit. The proposal is based upon the psychological divide this creates. The apartments provide the user with a high degree of flexibility and adaptability, with the half step as the only pre determined separator.
1 of 12

Close

Location

Like the masterplan developed previously in this project, where an outer edge contains the historic grid, the proposal conceals and hints at a hidden world inside the scheme.
2 of 12

Close

Masterplan

A master plan was developed prior to the design of this scheme. The main ambition was to maintain the historic grid in Glasgows city fabric, utilise the surrounding vistas to create new ones and provide spaces for informal knowledge exchange in key spaces placed in the new vistas designed. We called these spots ”beacons”, to help visitors and passers by navigate through the neighbourhood.
3 of 12

Close

Ground Floor Plan

Through chamfered corners, new vistas and narrow lanes, the proposal stays true to the outlines decided upon in the masterplan, and opens up at ground floor level into a semi private courtyard through a series of hour-glass shaped openings in the building fabric.
4 of 12

Close

Sections

Section and cross section showing the dialogue between housing and public space, as well as its relationship with existing building heights.
5 of 12

Close

Typical Plan

Each flat has a unique layout and consists of several half stepped floors, with the only constant being the stacked load-bearing cores providing plumbing and services for the kitchen and bathrooms.
6 of 12

Close

Apartment Plan

The inhabitant chooses what spaces to divide, to what degree and with the materials they themselves prefer. It is not up to the architecture to determine what a certain space should be used for. That is for the inhabitant to decide. The line between labour and domesticity is drawn by each user according to their own needs.
7 of 12

Close

Axonometric Section

The language of the elevation is kept deliberately neutral to refrain from indicating what a certain room designated usage is.
8 of 12

Close

Apartment Plan

The inhabitant chooses what spaces to divide, to what degree and with the materials they themselves prefer. It is not up to the architecture to determine what a certain space should be used for. That is for the inhabitant to decide. The line between labour and domesticity is drawn by each user according to their own needs.
9 of 12

Close

Axonometrics In Context

The undulating roof scape is a response to exposure, with the tallest parts facing the outside and the lower parts facing either a square or neighbouring buildings in the masterplan.As the proposal sits within the inner part of the masterplan, the decision was made not to design taller than the buildings surrounding the site, to retain a sense of intimacy.
10 of 12

Close

Views

Three moments in the scheme showing: 1. Entering the semi private courtyard. 2. Approaching one of the new public squares through the masterplan. 3. A view of the southern elevation approaching from Argyle Street.
11 of 12

Close

Models

Left: a collection of study- and massing models used to progress the design. Right: a presentation model exploring a section through the scheme, showing the relationship between building and courtyard as well as the incorporation of vertical circulation.
12 of 12

Close