A Floating Nest of Living in the (Near) Future
#HoustonTexas; #Residential; #Co-Living; #SmartHouse; #Urban
William Ward Watkin Design Award, 2022.
This ‘liquid candy’ dorm proposes a new smart living scheme across different scales in the a hundred-year future. The ‘liquidity’ suggests a volatile living situation, material possibilities, and a malleable interpretation of the future. It starts with an interest in the media culture and how it is related and reflected in space and architecture. Hence, in the foreseeable future, with the computer prevails and becomes more immersive and smart, its subjectivity and agencies will escalate, where a co-living situation of human and machine will be the prospective future.
In the urban scale, as the ground might not be accessible or enough, the new program will grow upon the existing urban fabrics. The design of each modules aims to resolve the co-living situation. One largest difference for human and machine interacting space is that the machines, by nature, won’t persist with the concept of ground and ceiling but surfaces. Hence, each module is formed as a large lantern that encloses several smaller bubbles. The whole module is therefore one continuous surface for the machine to access the physical space with its most efficiency. Meanwhile, the modules will be divided into three floors for humans, and furnished with sets of built-in smart furniture. The lantern vessels will be prefabricated and joined by carbon fiber poles on-site, which are designed for easy installation and removal of units.
The neighboring vessel could also be bridged at any time, for larger collective living, facilitating the traditional way of in-person communication. In addition, in the larger open space, an inflatable temporal structure could be installed upon request for specific non-virtual events.
Rooftop. Liminal space.
Assemblage. Vertical shafts.
