Come Together - Urban co-housing as a new social catalyst at Amtssygehuset

Christensen, Louise Marie ; Jensen, Nanna Fredslund ; Mortensen, Maria

4. term

Urban Design, Master

2017

2017-05-18

163 pages

The concept of co-housing as originally perceived is going through a revival these years, as a steady reaction to contemporary social and societal issues. The modern, individualized society, that is partly a result of extensive urbanization, has affected the way we live out our cities - the blasé state of mind (Simmel 1995) and an increasing issue of loneliness have been descriptive of the contemporary city, and yet there are seemingly no authorities willing to take the matter in their hands. Solving the problem, is a question of translating the intangible social issues of loneliness and mental distance, and turning them into physical, strategic parameters. Through the introduction of co-housing in a dense urban context, we seek to make possible the elimination of loneliness and foster communities in the city. Designing for communities is hard, and to develop a strategy for facilitating them, we have given concrete expression to the issues of loneliness through an iterative process bouncing between social parameters and the physical framework of Amtssygehuset in Aarhus. Geological conditions make Aarhus a city struggling to employ sustainable rainwater management, but with the natural element of water that biologically draws and attracts people (Pradhan 2012), it is our belief that urban spaces and the communities that happen within can gain a surplus value through innovative ways of handling rainwater.

Bofællesskaber ; Urban design

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