1/2 – 2010

Housing Forms

In the debate in this country about housing and the settlement area the “urban” is often played off against the “rural” – a practice in justifying architecture that is astonishing, given the obvious character of our settled areas.  Is the densely built city the only alternative to urban sprawl in the landscape – and, conversely, is the free-standing apartment building or the single family home the only economically and culturally influential typologies? If this were the case, the desire to use urban typologies in the periphery could be welcomed without reservations. However, we have looked around for alternatives and searched for forms of housing that create meanings and spaces in indeterminate surroundings, that allow independent identities and take “high density building” seriously, far beyond any of the conventional schemes. The current issue attempts to find an answer to the question posed by approaching it from two sides. On the one hand we found buildings and groups of buildings that by virtue of their scale mediate between the estate and the individual house. On the other hand we bring a report about building and spatial structures that offer a very high level of flexibility of use.