Collective Housing From a Sustainable Perspective : An Investigative Work Within Architecture

Abstract: The purpose of this work has been to investigate how housing can be designed to be more sustainable and to design a sustainable collective housing based on the information obtained through this work. The concept of sustainability in this report has been divided into two main aspects: ecological and social sustainability. Based on literature studies, our own surveys as well as observations of other collective housing projects and sketch work, a housing has been designed that meets some of our predetermined goals. These goals mainly revolve around the design being: sustainable based on certain chosen aspects, practical to live in, and appealing to people by offering some comfort and respecting the residents’ need for privacy. The literature study includes information about collective housing, the history of collective housing in Sweden, existing implementations of collective housing, surveys, and requirements in BBR (Boverkets byggnadsregler). Subsequently, observations of other collective housing projects have been made to serve as a starting point of the design. The method includes the approach used to achieve the results. This includes the survey and the sketch work that led to the final design. The survey was sent out to and answered by one hundred people and the data received from the seventeen questions have served as a basis for the design of this project. The suggestions for functions that were received by the respondents have been of particular importance to inspire the choice of functions in the final design. Among other things, these led to the choice to include an outdoor gym. Two prototypes of collective housing were profiled during the sketch work, which were then abandoned in the process of designing something that better lived up to the goals of the project. The final design resulted in a building divided in three floors that includes six collective apartments with additional common rooms that are shared between the apartments. The site plan shows two of the designed collective housing buildings sharing a courtyard. In addition to the fact that it has been possible to establish that collective housing has certain implicit positive advantages, certain specific attributes which make a collective more sustainable. The basic benefits of collective housing include that it can reduce social isolation and bring benefits for the environment by reducing our collective consumption and use of space. Specific design choices that have proved to be more sustainable and have been included in this design are: Minimized living space per person and a high number of shared spaces, as well as features in the accommodation that encourage sharing. In order for the accommodation to also take into account people's preferences, the bathrooms have for example been made private. Some compromises have been made in the design of the accommodation in order to appeal to more people, who can hopefully become more open to this form of housing.