We surround ourselves with spaces that impact on us and define us. We inhabit spaces, and they inhabit us. We live in them and their memories lives in us. The unit aims to generate spatial awareness for the most intimate of spaces, our home. How do we live at home, how do we live in a building, how do we live in the city? It reflects on the impact of housing on every individual and on the city at large, to sensitise towards the responsibilities of architecture and spaces.
Emotional, architectural and social questions were researched. The primer was structured with a series of small exercises, compiling an archive of memories. Inspired by Thomas Demand the students started with personal memories of home, developing an understanding of the spaces they grew up in. By means of models, photography and drawings, memories were evaluated and analysed, identifying spatial qualities, dwelling typologies, urbanistic patterns and underlying cultures and histories. Working in small groups of two or three students, short design studies prepared for the main design task.
In the comprehensive projects, students designed a housing development in Cardiff, the city that has been home for the last years. Adding to the conversation of contemporary cities, carparks had to be transformed into living spaces.