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.