MSc Architecture, Royal Institute of Technology
Year 1, Spring 2023
Housing Studio, individual work
Year 1, Spring 2023
Housing Studio, individual work
HOUSING STUDENTS IN UPPSALA
Understanding the varying differences and needs of students through affordable and flexible housing, exploring larger and sociable forms of living.
In Sweden’s big cities today, living costs are rising and the demand for housing is increasing due to urbanisation. Further on, more people live individually today than before, contributing to the increase in energy use and overall environmental impact by the construction and property sector. Studies show a worsening in mental health and loneliness, especially among young adults. Ultimately, there is a need for better, more flexible, and functionally designed buildings and housing that can possibly be used by more individuals and in a more efficient and sustainable way.
In this project, we were asked to design a multi-family housing project in Rosendal, Uppsala. After investigating the housing situation in Uppsala, I quickly decided to focus on student housing, specifically looking into flexible and sociable living to accommodate diverse and changing needs. The majority of organisations providing student housing in Uppsala have a limited number of accommodations, and finding housing privately as a student in big university cities can be difficult. The type of student housing provided is primarily corridor rooms, a typology with decreasing interest among students. Moreover, some groups of students are excluded from applying for accommodation in some cases, such as EU/EEA students, students with families, and students above the age of 25.
In my proposal, I address the rising housing costs and the lack of student housing in Uppsala. The project is divided into two focus areas, one being co-housing for individual students to address the issue of loneliness and the environmental impact of living individually, and the other being apartments for older and/or settled students with a partner or family to address the lack of consideration for these households. A key area of investigation is the levels of privacy and shared space, determining which facilities are shared between residents in the same block, all residents, and with the surrounding area of Rosendal. Lastly, student housing should be designed to accommodate the uncertainty of future occupation and housing demand. Students come and go, and the need differs from year to year. Therefore, the majority of apartments have been designed to allow for flexibility and change.
Rosendal is an area with a young population with nearly half of dwellings being studio apartments, meaning that the area is in need of larger apartments. Rosendal is located between the campuses of Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, meaning that the site has the potential to house students from both universities and respond to the lack of larger student apartments and sociable forms of living in the area.
Numbered elements in orange indicate reuse as specified below
