BIND BY WATER: building a community amongst solo dwellers through water infrastructure

The design of BIND BY WATER promotes a new way of living in which we rethink the integration of living and bathing into one building. By reimagining the bath as a shared space, the unique timbre of the project offers a space of synthesis, vulnerability, and reconciliation, where the armor of everyday life is abandoned together with one’s clothes...

Architectural Components to Contribute to Social Interaction

The amount of people with feelings of loneliness has increased dramatically in recent years. Loneliness is an undesirable and horrible situation where one can feel completely abandoned. Solo dwellers and elderly are found to be the most vulnerable.<br/><br/>Besides the devastating personal situation of people with feelings of loneliness,...

Togetherness: Solo species sharing space in central Rotterdam

How can a community of multi-generational solo dwellers and non-human species coexist near Rotterdam station today? The project “Togetherness” offers loft homes for starters, cluster apartments for middle and senior citizens, maisonettes for solo parents and habitats for bats. Considering different sharing capacities for each target group leads...

Together alone: The relation between the needs of the solo-dweller and the design strategy of co-living

The number of solo-dwellers is a rising trend in the Netherlands. While living alone is not a new phenomenon, the proportions of solo-dwellers have made this a significant demographic group. According to ABF Research, the total number of households in the Netherlands in 2020 is 8,02 million with 3,11 million solo-dwellers. In 2050 the total...

Dwelling design for solo living: Combating loneliness in modern single-person households using concepts of cohousing and coliving

The project is focused on combating loneliness in single-person households. Concepts of cohousing and coliving are chosen to research the topic to meet the requirements of modern solo dwellers.

The open city: a home for nature: How the solo dweller can flourish in a nature-inclusive city

1 million new homes will have to be built in The Netherlands in the upcoming decades. This is largely due to the fact that an increasing amount of people is choosing to live alone. The aim of this thesis to understand the forces behind the rise of the solo dweller and to find a proper way of designing a nature-inclusive residential building that...

Built for the solo dweller: An antidote to urban loneliness

<br/>Loneliness has become a growing problem in the city of Amsterdam. It is<br/>not a new phenomenon, but due to better understanding of the topic and therefore knowing it’s dangers better, the urge to do something about it grows. Nevertheless, loneliness is a complex issue. This is because feeling lonely is<br/>a subjective feeling. In...

Living solo in Rotterdam: Improving the living quality of one person households by urban interventions

The amount of one person households is rapidly growing in the Netherlands. Unfortunately solo dwellers are still disadvantaged, stigmatised and forgotten in urban design since society expects them to be in a relationship. This is exemplified by the focus on families and couples in cities and housing developments. As a result there is a lack of...