Mayfield's Home
The challenges posed by a city in flux facing rising energy costs, increased displacement, and a fading ecology of care fuelled the development of a project aiming to provide a comfortable public home environment within the city. Reinstating public access to amenities, operating on the principles of a circular economy, and serving as a versatile venue for events.
The building’s design prioritises communal living, evident in its architectural envelope crafted for shared inhabitation. It forms a framework for creative expression that involves and empowers users, similarly to how a home is an extension and an expression of the self. Hence, allowing the building to become a process rather than a product. Additionally, improving the building’s climate performance and energy efficiency through low-tech systems that give the building occupier a stage. The architecture becomes a backdrop to the details of everyday life.
The project grew from using a washing line as a choreographic object within Mayfield. Exploring the creation of a domestic setting on the street by bringing something private to a public space. This investigated the potential for comfortably inhabiting public space and the process of making a space your own. Inspiring the project’s year 1 urban living room proposal, serving as a method to claim ownership of the site and foster a sense of community as a premise to the building.
The project’s construction prioritises reclaimed, locally sourced and renewable materials. Methods reliant on hand tools and community involvement contribute to creating a building fuelled by participation as its currency.
