IN DIALOGUE
How to plan, build and inhabit a house
Living collectively can be a very good experience if everyo-ne wants to keep the same balance between the collective and the private. In this collective they have a common budget for food and cooking is a central part of the collec-tive everyday life. Still, everyone has their own rooms when privacy is needed.
THE COLLECTIVE
FAMILY OF TWO
FAMILY OF FIVE
FAMILY OF FOUR
THE STUDENT
Nelson 3, Marcus 29, Johannes 32, Ana 34, Laleh 4, Sofie, 27, Mio 1
Marie 54 and Benjamin 16
Leif 57, Hanna 17, Lena 55, Sonya 17 and Hannes 21
Tobias 36, Sandra 37, Viktor 8 and Eli 5
Johanna 21
Multi family housing from the 70s in Umeå
Multi family house from the 50s in Östhammar
Villa with store spaces from 1910s in Holmsund
Villa from the 60s in Holmsund
Villa from the 40s in Holmsund
From the interviews
Sketch of floor plans, redrawn by me
Floors Walls Textile/Carpet
Floors Walls Textile/Carpet
This family lives in a villa from the beginning of 1900s. The villa has three floors with old store spaces by the street. These spaces are now used as atelier and workshop for the family. Even though they have a lot of space for different activities and hobbies, they all expressed that these activities would be better experienced shared with others.
Floors Walls Textile/Carpet
Marie lives in in a two room apartment outside of Uppsa-la. Every other weeek her son Benjamin lives in her living room with an old door dividing the space. She would want to live in central Uppsala in slightly larger apartment so Benjamin could have his own space, but the prices in cen-tral Uppsala are too high.
Floors Walls Textile/Carpet
This family lives in a detached house in Holmsund. Because they have small children they spend alot of time together, mostly in the kitchen and the living room.
Johanna lives with her family in Holmsund and is looking for an apartment to move in with her boyfriend. She most-ly spends time in the kitchen or living room. She described how just knowing somebody is home gives her peace of mind. Laundry Shower Recreation Hall Food cellar Bedroom Porch Porch Living room Living room
Crafts room Hall
Hall WC Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom Workshop Workshop larger tools Firewood Potato room Guest room Atelier
Bedr oom Bedroom Bedr oom Parents room Office Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom Kitchen Bedroom WC Living room Crafts Old store (Where I paint) Kitchen Kitchen Kitchen
Living room Garage
Boiler room Closet Hobbies Hall
WC Bedroom
Screen for the bed
Closet Old bank
vault WC
Hall
Kitchen Living room
I am here the most I am here the most I am here the most I am here the most I am here the most
Bedroom Bedroom Hallway WC WC Wardrobe Walk in closet Fire place Sauna
Floors Walls Textile/Carpet
INITIATORS/USERS
ARCHITECT/PROJECT LEADER
THE MUNICIPALITY
THE BANK
GOVERNMENTAL INSTANCES
THE BUILDER
The users are most likely the initiators in a joint building venture. A couple of friends, colleages or like-minded get together and decide to start the JBV is almost exclusively the starting point
No money - no building. The bank is the most
common bottle neck for JBVs in Sweden. This way of building is seen as unconventional and most banks simply won’t take the risk.
Sweden has a long history of governmental grants and subventions for the construction industry. Favorable governmental loans aimed for JBVs could be the starting point for a new An architect with experience of the building-
and planning process is a critical asset to a JBV. For most architects, a unique client like a JBV is a dream come true. The architecture becoms
Smaller building entrepreneurs can find a new market and produce high quality buildings together with interested and unique clients. The municipality are the ones who plan the
built environment and assign plots for builders and is thus a critical actor in the process.
The history of housing in Sweden is a central part of our cultural history and for the collective understanding of ourselves. During the 20th century the Swedish state has played an active roll in the production of housing. But, since the 90s the housing question has been left to the market which struggles to produce the quantity of housing that is needed. While the housing that is built today comes with a lot of qualities, it is also ridden with problems. The floor plans are general, yet fixed, common spaces are under priori-tized and the possibility to customize your apartment is low. Not to mention that we are moving towards a situation were also rental apartments are put on the free market which under the current situation, could lead to an increased segregation in the bigger
cities. The ability to choose how your home should be configurated has become a luxury. The situation has certain similarities with the speculative way of building of the late 19th century in Sweden. The answer then was to make it possible for workers, small farmers and officials to build their own homes with financial help from the state.
When neither the market nor the state can provide good enough housing for the citizens, it is time to, like before, explore how we can take the matter into our own hands. Today an answer could be joint building ventures. Friends, colleagues or like-minded can get together and build their own multifamily houses by planning,
buil-ding and finally inhabit the builbuil-dings. It is today a tricky process, but experiences from Germany have showed that it can be a reliab-le way of providing housing when the idea gets more normative. Holmsund could be a good testing ground for joint building ventures. The settlement is expected to grow, there are free central plots and the settlement can provide enough service and commu-ting possibilities even for people more used to city life.
The users building the house is an extraction of different ways of li-ving in Sweden: A collective, sharing most aspects of life, a student struggling to find a place for her and her boyfriend, a middle-aged woman living with her son every other week, a family with small
children and a family where the children will move out in a near future. These constellations are of varying degree constellations you can find in many places in Sweden, and each of them comes with different opportunities and challenges.
To plan and design a house for a heterogenous group of people puts a lot of demands on the architecture regarding adaptability. The spaces should be flexible enough to house different needs, but in a system that can host this adaptability while still being econo-mically sensible. To design a building with the specific intent for it to be changed in any way is to accept that the building is in the first place in some way incomplete, or even imperfect. This is of
course counter to normal architectural values, which privilege com-pletion and perfection.
1: 4000
Unrefined open space Parking space Parks & green space Public space Retail & Service 1: 20 000 N N UMEÅ 40 000 kr/m2 20 000 - 25 0000 kr/m2 20 000 - 25 0000 kr/m2 25 min 9 min HOLMSUND OBBOLA $ $ $ $ Property prices kr/m2
Minutes by bus from Holmsund
5 6 7 8 9 10 12 11 2 3 4 1
1. Island of the harbor 2. Island of industry 3. Island of the marina 4. Island of the cottages 5. Island of the south residential 6. Island of history
7. Island of industry 8. Island of the public 9. Island of the modern 10. Island of the central grid 11. Island of the post industrial fun 12. Island of the northeast residential
11
The settlement of Holmsund can be traced back to the 16th century and was during that period predo-minantly a fishing settlement by Lövön.
Lövön 1500 - 1850
Fishing huts
6
Västerbacken In the late 19th century Holmsund developed to an industrial saw mill settlement. The urban develop-ment was mainly initiated by the companies which provided housing for the workers.
1850 - 1930 Workers housing
In the 1930s the municipality cooperated with the company SCA to build the ”own home” area Svenskby. The company subsidized materials and the workers built the houses themselves.
1930 - 1940 Own home movement
5
Svenskby
Holmsundsvägen
Just as in the rest of Sweden the construction of housing became more rationalized and industrialized in Holmsund during the 20th century with a culmi-nation during the million programme. Also, during this time the car became more and more common which affected the architecture and town planning drastically.
1950 - 1970
Modernism and million programme Noise mapping
Bus line and proposed new railway station
9
Himmelska fridens torg
Starting from the 80s the housing question beca-me more and more depoliticized by dismantling housing norms and subsidies. At the same time the post modern movement started to lobby for a back tracking of architecture, to more traditional values in the city. The central parts of Holmsund is offset from Storgatan to the square more south.
1980 - 2010
Post-Modernism and market driven policies 10
Grocery store Service
Café Pizzeria
Health central & pharmacy Bank Flower shop Flower shop Municipality Office Café Hair dres-ser Real estate broker Hairdresser H air dr esser Church Bus stop Tobacco store 1: 500 A A A A
As a part of the theory workshop with Stalker, me and Ida investigated how
Him-melska fridens torg could be reprogram-med. We strategically placed snow people to occupy parking spots and block the entrance to the parking lot. Many cars choose other parking spots and respected the snow people which shows that some spaces can be repro-grammed with small and simple interven-tions.
The chosen site is three empty plots in cen-tral Holmsund, next to Himmelska fridens torg which during the 80s became the new meeting place when the boutiques of Storga-tan started to close.
In the proximity of the square there are several services and stores aswell as bus stops for commuting to Umeå. The square itself is more or less a parking lot with a playground stuck in between.
The most important entity is COOP, the grocery store. This is the only larger grocery shop in Holmsund, and thus, it generates alot of traffic.
The project aims to complete the urban fa-bric and offer a public space that is not over-taken by cars. In interplay with a dynamic infill system of the ground floor, the public space can be what the citizens of Holmsund, and the residents of the building, want it to be.
CONTEXT AND SITE CONDITION
Rentable & common space Rentable space Residential Residential Residential Residential Residential Residential PUBLIC SEMI PUBLIC PRIVATE
PROGRAM & SITE STRATEGY
EXISTING CONDITION
2019 06 21 - 09 00 SUN STUDIES
2019 06 21 - 12 00 2019 06 21 - 16 00 2019 03 21 - 08 00 2019 03 21 - 12 00 2019 03 21 - 16 00
1:400
THE MAIN VOLUMES EXPANSIVE ELEMENTS THE GRID
The site is an empty plot next to Himmelska fridens torg, the main square, in Holmsund. Today the site hosts a small parking lot and a recycling station.
The volumes are placed in order to complete the urban weave and introduce an urbanity to central Holmsund. In connection to the main square, an complementary urban space is created that is supposed to work together with the rentable spaces in the ground floor of the building.
The expansive elements host balconies that can extend the living space, common balconies reserved for common spa-ce facing the public and a gallery connecting the buildings. The elements are arranged according to the public and the sun conditions.
The facace reflects the structural grid and creates a coherent yet flexible facade.
Private extension Common PUBLIC SEMI PUBLIC PRIVATE N N N N Roof terrace Square Garden Extension of the garage for car pool
- Members of the joint building venture
- Architect
- Shop and business owners
NEGOTIATIONS
ACTORS
- Members of the joint building venture
- Architect
- Municipality
- Bank
- Members of the joint building venture
- Architect
- Municipality
- Members of the joint building venture
- Architect
STAGE
A simple gallery ensures horizontal circulation. 1,5 m
Example of groundfloor plan with low exploitation. Floor plan with infill dwellings.
Floor plan with expansive elements. The structural order.
Café
Infill
Common spaces
Unexploited rentable space
Unexploited r entable space
Common spaces for the residents
Domestic
Smaller window for private spaces. 1300 x 2700 mm
Larger window for public
spaces. 4100 x 2700 mm Larger window for public spaces. 4100 x 2700 mm
CLT wood walls clad with cedar.
The widest balcony towards the square enables a small common space. Reser-ved for gardening to give back some of the greenery that the building appropri-ates. 2,5 m
U-glass elements creates and illumina-ted and transparent expression of the ground floor.
Elevator
Staircase
All dwellings are built with generous balconies extruded 2m. These can be left open or glazed in according to the wishes of the residents.
During the first phase the people of the joint building venture are presented the structure that is placed according to the site conditions.
A joint building venture can take years to plan before an architect is even contacted. This timeline follows what happens when the social formation is already done, and when the architect is involved.
The expansive elements are placed in dialogue with the residents and the municipality. The balconies are added and sized according to sun condition and contact with the context.
Circulation and common spaces are planned.
At this stage the negotiations of the domestic
spaces start. The spaces are divided according to the residents’ demands of space and their econo-mic strenght. The student apartments are owned by the building venture and rented to students.
The ground floor follows a similiar logic as the rest of the building. One part is reserved for common spaces for the residents, such as laundry and workshop, while the rest is left open with the possibility for shop owners to rent the space and in collaboration with the residents fill it.
Collective 192 m2
Single mother and her son 65m2
Family of five 125 m2 Student 45m2
The structure at this stage is just a steel skele-ton with a wet core and slabs.
The joint building venture will act as the owners of the building, deciding what types of business is acceptable and how much of the ground floor is to be rented out.
Acts as an expert guiding the residents and resposible for the design of the floor plans. Decides the layout of the floor plans.
Lends money to the project. When the loan is accepted, the investment is often safe.
Plans and decides the zoning laws for the site.
The municipality often has an idea of sites, es-pecially central ones and can act as a help and collaborator to the JBV and the architect. Gives design proposals which are discussed with the residents and the municipality.
Responsible for the design and works as an expert and project leader, helping the JBV through the building process.
Initiates and directs the project.
Assists with the dialogue and overlooks how the business infills are to happen.
Negotiates the rent and type of building with the residents of the building.
Sedum and concrete roof
Steel beams 200 mm
Expansive roof elements for a uniform expression
Exterior walls CLT clad with cedar panel 300 mm
Steel columns 300 mm
Concrete slab 250 mm + ceiling and floor 250 mm
Expansive balcony, spruce 300 mm
Glass layer for green house
Outer steel grid for a uniform facace
The balconies are supported by the outer grid and allows for an outdoor or semi outdoor expansion of the dwellings.
CONSTRUCTION
A skeleton frame of steel and concrete is the only fixed elements of the building. The raised floor hosting installations allows for a great number of configurations and uses.
Insulation 40 Stud 22 x 70 Concrete 250
Raised floor hosting insula-tion and installainsula-tions 100 Parquette
GROUND FLOOR 1:100
LONG SECTION A-A 1:100
Studio and workshop
Laundry room Dry room Fan room Electricity/Tele Garbage room Garbage room Rentable space furnished as café Rentable space not exploited Existing garage is extended for car pool space Bike storage Collective dwelling ground floor Public Square Public Square Collective garden Collective garden A A
Example of groundfloor plan with low exploitation
FIRST FLOOR 1:100
SECOND FLOOR 1:100
Exterior view - The left balconies are glazed by the residents, creating an extension of the living room. Interior view - With large windows facing the balconies, the living room is luminated and connected to the outside.
N N Student apartment 47m2 Student apartment 47m2 Student apartment 47m2 Common space Common space Reser ved for gar dening Reser ved for gar dening Reser ved for gar dening Reser ved for gar dening Reser ved for gar dening Gallery Gallery Balcony for expansion Balcony for expansion Balcony for expansion Balcony for expansion
Balcony for expansion
Student apartment 47m2
Five room family apartment 125 m2
Closet
Two room apartment 68 m2
Second floor of the collective dwelling 194 m2
