The Diffused House

Re-imagining Cranbook Estate and Co-Living

2021-2022
2nd Year Individual Design Project (Central Saint Martins)
Tutors: Pati Santos and Gonzalo Herrero Delicado 



Location:  Cranbrook Estate (1964), London UK
Architect: Berthold Lubetkin  (1901-1990)
Project Type:  Retrofit / Domesticity / Water
Typology: Social Housing



How can we defend the pleasures of living whilst giving agency to the residents to define their own form of domesticity? Co-habitation has emerged as an inevitable response to the affordability and inaccessibility of the housing stock around the world. To change this perception, the project seeks to defend the pleasures of living whilst giving agency to the residents to define their own form of domesticity.

Through radically diffusing the boundaries, the Diffused House questions how much we are willing to share and how cooperative domestic links can be established between residents and ultimately a new ownership model is proposed that puts the residents need in the centre offers an affordable, stable home for the residents.  



01    The Diffused House Proposal  









Research 


02    Historical Timeline 
03    Lubetkin’s Masterplanning and Diametry 
04    Cranbrook Estate: Existing Masterplan 
05   Site Analysis: Demographics 
06    Velletri House: Existing Structure
07    Resident Analysis and Current Issues





What is the Meaning of the Home Today?


07   Understanding the meaning of the home today through research of my own home 
08    Concepts: A home that responds to the changing needs of its residents
10    Concepts: Breaking down the artificial barriers in the public space
09    The Home as...







11    Concepts: ‘What are the potentials of water and what if we designed for all our senses?






12    Concept Collage: the Home as...
13   How much of our home are we willing to share?








14   New Housing Framework for Cranbrook Estate







Retrofitting Strategies 


15   Retrofitting Strategies for Velletri House and Construction Details






15   Plan: Sleeping Arrangements





16    Plan: The Home as a Place of Relaxation








17    Water connecting the domestic and urban sphere

18    The Domestication of Water








19    Render of Velletri House Proposal






20   Render of Ground Floor


21    Section through Velletri House







tn2556@columbia.edu
© Stephanie Ng 黄紫鑫