My social housing proposal for Withington provides four different options of homes with four different methods of food production. New residents will have choice over living in modular blocks of apartments with access to roof gardens and vertical farms, or they can choose a semi detached property with access to a traditional communal allotment. Those who would like more space and privacy can choose a flexible apartment with a private roof garden. Residents grow food together and are able to trade their crops at the on-site grocery, part of the Living Wall; a central spine that brings residents together. The Living Wall acts like an extension to the high street to integrate locals into the new site and helps to improve its permeability.
The threshold between the high street and new residential area is filled with outdoor spaces that will improve residents and locals quality of life. There is a childrens playpark, a skatepark, a dog walking area and a gathering space for eating and meeting friends. These spaces fit within the grain of the masterplan which has been designed using orientation and desire line pathways to carve out diagonal patterns and plazas between the buildings. These diagonal desire lines cut through the Living Wall for ease of movement through the site. All surfaces are shared by pedestrians and those on wheels; such as cyclists, skaters and those in wheelchairs.
This project has enabled me to explore what social housing can be and I would like to take this further into practice. Amongst other work, I would like to contribute towards residential projects as I believe providing regular people with excellent places to live, not just those with money, is one of the most important contibutions we can offer as architectural designers.
