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Transitional Landscapes, MA-project,
Lund School of Architecture, 2019.
The landscape of Mazara Del Vallo consists of a limestone composite, which for centuries has been the main source of local building material.
The stone’s sources (in the form of quarries marked in black on map) and the processed stone (in the form of buildings) create an important relationship between the negative and the positive of the city - the city’s growth is mirrored in voids visible beneath itself.
This thesis is a propositional study, analysing to what extent conventional concepts of urban housing architecture require updating in response to increasingly progressive living patterns developing in Europe.
The propositional design is a modular system including permanent housing for short-term accommodation
- alongside a trail of public walkways - which inhabit, activate and connect a network of abandoned urban green spaces.
This thesis’s research and design speculation found that conventional concepts of urban housing architecture must be updated to accommodate a growing global trend in transitional lifestyles, characterised by short-term inhabitation periods, non-traditional family structures and the need for commoning of resources.
This thesis’s design proposition includes a modular system with universal application but sensitivity to local context. It allows inhabitants flexibility of use and length of stay, with communal resources that foster community within the housing as well as existing neighbouring communities.
Together, these actions provide a progressive alternative to housing which keeps up with changing concepts of urban housing architecture.
