Farming Condenser

Abstract

The recent housing market and social trends have changed the houses from large family homes to small single-dweller apartments. Although living alone does not necessarily mean that solo-dwellers are lonely, they are more at risk of social isolation which can result into loneliness. This resulted into the need for more community living. The community living can be supported by bringing back local industry to create focus on the local activity within the neighborhood. This paper attempts to enhance community living for socially isolated people, through mix-used housing typologies.
Urban farming turned out to be the optimal industry to combine with dwelling. A physical connection might be optimal for the consumer binding, however to ensure the ideal production conditions the production is often limited to a visual connection. With this in mind, a new building typology was created that places the industry in the core of the building. Through this typology the residents and industry are connected within the building on all levels, as well as providing several sustainability benefits for the building.
The organizing and maintenance of communal activities has less to do with the architectural design and more about a motivated group of people that are willing to organize it. Nevertheless, communal farming presents a place where social interaction can flourish. As an activity the farming is consistent and low organizational, wherein other activities are harder to maintain. Consistency has shown to be the most important factor to make sure these activities are joined, while the kind of activity can be flexible. This led to the creation of a circulation concept, that makes space for the communal activities and support social interaction. A Helix circulation has been created to break the disconnect between different floors and create a ‘mini-city’ environment, similar to the public streets of the city. In addition, several other concepts has been developed, that can be used to support the creation of a community and promote social interaction for people that are socially isolated.