GSA Showcase 2021

Labour/Domesticity

Gainful labour is no longer confined to a location by mechanical or communicative requirements. It is also no longer expected that domestic or gainful labours are the domain of any one particular gender. The average individual maintains a career and a home simultaneously. The individual is now required to compartmentalise or blend their domestic and professional lives according to their needs or preferences.
Productive labour is generally a collaborative effort. Domestic life is more intimate. This urban housing proposal aims to allow the individual to modulate their environment to suit their activity or mood. This is achieved by establishing an enfilade of spaces arranged in a spectrum from individual to collective, private to civic.

Context

The urban fabric of the Barras is disintegrating. It creates a disconnect between the city to the west, and the residential community of Calton to the east.
This proposal is mooted at a time when a creative community is kindling within the Barras. This is positive, yet alienating to long term residents and stallholders of the district. It is not clear how they will benefit from the new establishments and prosperity.
The proposal aims to compliment the new community while providing amenity for the established residents. It will reinstate a distinctive edge to the urban block and the district, expressing a sense of solidity and permanence. Denser and more varied programming will generate activity throughout the day and week. The district will extend the gradient from private to civic established in the housing local and civic spaces.