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COLLECTIVE HOUSING

MArch | Manchester School of Architecture 

Professional Studies 1, Pair Work

In collaboration with Hanxiao Zhao

2021

Our housing project is located in Bradford's Top of Town, surrounded by several valuable listed buildings. Inspired by Edward Hopper’s painting, “Sunlights in Cafeteria” in 1958, we aim to bring some positive impacts on the locals through this project, such as warmness and a sense of belonging. According to the site conditions, we retained the original car park building and partly change its use. The car park would have a new facade to hide cars from people's sights and become a communal space on the ground level. We also introduced new open spaces as the extension of the existing square, responding to the context. Apart from residential use, there are a community library and commercial pedestrian zone in the masterplan.

Considering the industrial history, the building form learned from warehouses and textile mills from the past. We used continuous gable roofs and arches as the main architectural language. The building envelope would be composed of lighter brown bricks, similar to the surrounding buildings' type. Rotating the brick was applied for introducing more natural lights. The buildings, structured by timber frames and load-bearing concrete walls, would have a warm tune of materiality with brickworks and timber interiors. The Collective Housing not only provides opportunities for getting closer with each other, but also creates the atmosphere as a true home.

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