Contemporary Dwelling
Design Principles and Strategies, New Models for Mew Modes of Living

Hugo Faris, coord.

The Research Project focuses on dwelling and housing architecture, one of the most important topics for the architectural discipline in our times. In fact, the housing shortage that characterises not only developing countries but also developed countries, has made it a primary concern to study and find new architectural solutions that can give answer to the dweller’s needs. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations have housing as one of the seveteen goals, namely the 11th, stressing the importance of rethinking contemporary housing in search for solutions that can generate adequate, accessible, diverse and quality housing for all.

The research aims to study contemporary dwelling spaces – both collective and individual – focusing on the need for adequacy between uses, spatial and functional structure, residential and architectural quality, and the new and emerging modes of living. As a basis, it also aims to analyse and evaluate the profound social, working and technological changes that are taking place in western societies – with severe consequences in lifestyles and dwelling modes – seeking to assess their importance for the programming and design of new dwellings.

The themes of active and passive flexibility, of adaptability and polyvalence, the possibilities of de-hierarchization and spatial ambiguity as possible responses to the achievement of a more versatile and open-use dwelling architecture, are addressed. The themes of project participation, evolution of designs and questions relating the need to reduce costs in the production of mass-scale dwelling interventions for specific areas where the lack of proper housing is significant, are also addressed in the research.

Team

Hugo L. Farias, Miguel Baptista-Bastos, António Leite, Guilherme Maia, Ana Moreira