Parallel City

Abstract: This thesis project is about an associations union and territorial practice through the lens of collaborative construction. The project started with reading a newspaper article about an associations union being evicted from Fältöversten Centrum. The union contains 53 clubs, associations, and interest groups. I interviewed members of the different clubs and associations about what they liked about their old space and what they would like in a new space and outlined a program with them. The site is on the median of Valhallavägen, a boulevard in central Stockholm. The site is poor, given it’s surroundings of noteworthy architecture and significance within the cities grid. I conducted experiments to learn about the site. One being an on-site chair building workshop that contributed its’ resultant chairs to the site for public use. The chairs movements and orientations around the site were documented.  The proposal is a series of small houses spread throughout the site. In order to provide a construction method that’s both appropriate for self builders and spatially interesting, I adapted construction principles discovered during the chair workshop: beams joined by form-cut panels to created 2d trusses. The trusses intend to provide levels of spatial interest in the interior, as well as being a lexicon of the structures principles. the plans of the houses are left intentionally under-designed, the intention being that this leaves the interiors free for appropriation. Spaces include atelier spaces, workshops, makers spaces, meeting rooms, kitchens, auditoriums, greenhouse and a dancehall. The intention of these spaces, their location, orientations, construction and program are to manifest a parallel city, a deconstructed landmark of shared resources and knowledge, and a porous, inclusive, urban image.