Coming home

Abstract

This thesis examines how the principles of the garden city can be used to create good residential architecture on different scales. The relevance of the investigation is grounded in the critique of the growing standardisation in housing production and how this can lead to neglect of the human perspective and the qualities of interior and exterior space. Care and beauty is important in all layers of the built, since it has a direct correlation to the quality of life for people using the spaces. The thesis aims to investigate whether the principles of the garden city, together with theories for the unmeasurable qualities of architecture, can be used to create a well executed neighbourhood and one of its type homes with focus on the human experience. The investigation is conducted through literature studies, analysis of reference projects, study visits and a thorough inventory of the site and its surroundings, and result in a a drawn proposal for a garden city with one type house drawn in detail, in Husie, Malmö, expressed in drawings, perspectives, physical models and an explanatory booklet. The focus of the thesis is to examine how the relations between the interior, the public and human beings are affected by scale, materiality, nature, variety in expression and spatial characteristics and how this can affect the sense of home and belonging. The results show that the principles of the garden city is a useful tool to develop residential architecture without losing sight of any aspect of perception. It is therefore a relevant subject for today's city planning tradition. By building densely, yet low, the same rate of exploitation as in the contemporary block city can be reached while offering more qualities of life and experiences. Conclusively the thesis argues that the garden city is a concept for future city development and that the overall residential architecture needs to keep its focus on the human life and experience of the built environment.