Rethinking Minimalism

Rethinking Minimalism: the constant negotiation of space in high-density urban architecture

Kleindouwel, Lola (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

van de Pas, R.R.J. (mentor)
Kousoulas, S. (mentor)
Speksnijder, F.J. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Explorelab

2021-07-05

In contemporary architecture, we design with the preconceived notions of what rooms are, where habit and habitat are unconditionally linked. We sleep in the bedroom, we dine in the dining room, we work in the study. The rooms are linked to each other, where the architecture is static, the user the dynamic factor moving from room to room, leaving most of the space unused most of the time.

The world’s population is growing and in combination with a mass-urbanization movement, this results in the projection that 70% of the population will be living in cities by 2050. Not only will space become even more of a luxury in urban areas, there is an urge for a higher density in order to accommodate the cities future inhabitants. Manhattan, New York City’s most dense borough, will need expansion in order to accommodate 105.000 new inhabitants. Instead of expanding upwards or outwards, this project explores expanding ‘inwards’.

Minimal architecture is the starting point of this project and is defined as: ‘an architectural movement with a flexible and transformable floor plan, with sustainability, creating a higher urban density and reducing the ecological footprint of the design, as the main motive.’ The user is static and the architecture is dynamic, constantly transforming the space and allowing for a 24-hr-architecture.

The problem statement includes both the need to create a higher urban density and the inefficient use of the contemporary floor plan. The aim of the graduation project is to develop a new way of urban living. Creating housing in a high density with a fundamentally different approach to the program and layout. Designing collective spaces, while maintaining the quality of urban individuality. The project will present the rethinking of minimal architecture.

Minimalism
Minimal architecture
High-density urban living
24-hr-architecture
Territory
Framing

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Student theses

master thesis

© 2021 Lola Kleindouwel