Dwelling and Neighbourhood Design

The aim of this course is to enable students to design residential environments that are supportive to people’s lifestyles, fulfilling to their social and psychological needs in addition to the main function of shelter from the ambient environment. The people-centred approach to dwelling design is based on the explanatory theory of the meaning of ‘home.’ It sensitizes students to the concept of home as regulator of social interaction and communicator of social status and identity. Students understand how dwelling can be understood as system of activity settings with boundaries outside the private domain in shared spaces, accommodating daily activities, trips to work, opportunities for education and leisure. The course covers neighbourhood design and planning with its spatial layout, land use and connectivity, enabling students to understand and design the balance between several dichotomies such as sense of community and social mix; between economic prosperity and community privacy, between appropriation of collective space, safety, sense of belonging and accessibility, inclusiveness and equity. It explores the revival of home-based work, different contemporary lifestyles, patterns of living heritage and varying households. The course compliments the view of housing as a product, with that of housing as a process, the tenets of ‘adequate housing’ and the special considerations for different user groups; women, children, elderly…etc..