Dwelling in the City: Towards an Integrated Medium-Density Housing Environment

Abstract

This thesis responds to the shortcomings of current medium-density housing in allowing inhabitants to adequately experience the external environment. An iterative design-led investigation pursues a new form of medium-density housing that facilitates ‘dwelling’ in the sense of Norberg-Schulz’s use of the word:

Man dwells when he can orientate himself within and identify himself with an environment. (5)

The investigation was initiated with the intention to strengthen the potential relationship between an inhabitant and the external environment to lead to a lifestyle that benefits from an integration of internal and external qualities.

Two hypothesised imperatives were utilised: (i) the physical relationship between the internal and external environment; and (ii) the quality and identity of the housing whole; against which the progressive designs were examined.

The developed design demonstrates medium-density housing as a cohesive environment. Findings identify an issue in medium-density housing to be the treatment of internal and external environments as separate. Providing a cohesive environment, boundaries between the two physically defined environments are blurred, unifying an inhabitant’s experience. ‘Territory Design’ is utilised to establish the similarity between landscape and architecture – the character, framework and place, from which the unified environment is designed using tactics of ‘Tectonic, Narrative and Strata Design’.

Inhabitants dwell through ‘orientating’ within and ‘identifying’ with the cohesive environment. Likewise, it strengthens the relationship between an inhabitant and the external environment, as it ties the physical relationships between the internal and external together to be experienced as one.