Space Metamorphosis
INTRO PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
Fig 1.Urban sprawl example in Anthem, Henderson, Nevada, USA.
Fig 2. Open space working environment. ANZ Centre in Melbourne
Fig 3.Moving walls of “All I Own” appartment in Barcelona
[1] [2] Mozas, J. Fernandez Per, A. 2006. p. 43
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Space and energy consumption are a recurring problem in most countries right now. Every year more and more people move to urban areas and, as our cities expand, urban sprawl (fig 1) is affecting our quality of life and the environment we live in. Therefore the discussion about dispersed city versus compact city is taking place. As a possibility to turn towards a more sustainable living, optimize land use, reduce the need to travel and decrease energy use, people might reconsider their living habits. According to the statistics, the number of person who make up the family unit or cohabit will be divided by two in coming years [1], meaning that in order to maintain the same level of activity in urban areas, it will require to increase the density and optimize the use of the space. Currently, the basic premises of living are being reformulated and becoming more flexible and indifferent. “The attachment to the place, where one lives and where one works is decreasing, gradually people are getting away from the rigid system which was shocked from everything foreign.” [2] This statement gives us an opportunity to assume that people are getting prepared for a change in the way they occupy their working and living spaces. Driven by economic and social mechanisms as well as technological innovations people are appearing to be more flexible in the way they travel and the way they adapt to new environment. In order to follow new trends based on different changes in our understanding of functional cities as well as an increase of mobility and flexibility, the idea of compactness is introduced. Regarding the office spaces, there is a tendency of reducing the square meters per individual mainly because of an increase in collaborative (fig 2) and team-oriented working process and mobility of working methods. Richard Kadzis, CoreNet Global’s Vice President of Strategic Communications claims: “More companies are adopting open floor plans in which employees do not have any permanently designated space at all; rather they use unassigned space when they are in the office, settings that often change daily. This trend is enabled by technology and by cost measures, as they require smaller footprints.” [3] There are many examples of apartments, such as SOHO apartment in New York, “All I Own” apartment in Barcelona (fig 3) or the Gary Chang apartment in Hong Kong, creating virtually gained square meters by introducing built-in transformable furnitures and moving walls. At the same time most of the current buildings are not used to their full potential. The spaces are not designed according to smaller time intervals, such as day and night. Because of the mono function of the spaces, they can be used only for certain activities at certain times, while leaving them empty volumes and useless the rest of the time. Offices are empty at night for example and the opposite roughly goes for housing units. This waste of space also increases energy consumptions, use of land and resources. It is a paradoxical inconsistency of how people are looking for solutions to decrease the amount of their personal square meters used at home or at work, while our cities are full of unused and wasted spaces during certain time intervals.