Small scale big dreams; an investigation of design strategies for maintaining qualities in compact rowhouses

Abstract

Today, the demand for small housing is on the rise. 7 out of 10 swedes are dreaming of living in a small house even though only 20% of newly constructed housing consists of this typology. In addition to this, it is now more expensive than ever to purchase a small house and property in general. This thesis is discussing the need for more affordable small housing and suggests that one way to achieve this is to design row houses with a smaller dwelling area in order to make them more affordable for consumers, while at the same time maintaining and enhancing residential qualities. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and display how different architectural qualities could be interpreted as design strategies to be used as a framework for how row houses could be designed on a dwelling area of 90 sqm, without compromising with the qualities of a row house. This is done in order to draw attention to the fact that a reduction of space, as a consequence of making housing more affordable is not synonymous with a reduction of architectural and residential qualities. The thesis consists of three phases, the theoretical studies, the design strategies and the design proposals. In the theoretical studies phase, research on the topic has been conducted through literature, articles and case studies. This research has supported and set the framework for the design strategies in the second phase. These design strategies have then been used as the framework for the design proposals in the final phase. The result consists of a row house proposal with a dwelling area of 90 sqm where the essential qualities have been preserved and enhanced. This proposal was then compared with the existing row houses on Eriksbergsplatån to determine the qualitative gains and losses in relation to a row house with a larger dwelling area of 152 sqm. The comparison concludes that the two proposals share many qualities despite the difference in size, while the new proposal is more affordable and is enabling more residents to reside in the same area