The urban living room: constructing appropriation via the third space

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to spatially investigate The Third Space, using life’s transitions within this fast-moving society to be absorbed in the Urban streetscape of Gothenburg. Investigating social dynamics, the concept of The Third Space is designed to encourage social interactions, foster creativity, trigger co-creation & to make use of spaces otherwise left without purpose. What does a successful environment mean? The city of Gothenburg seems today to celebrate industrial and labour oriented progression with high-rise built office & industrial spaces. Gothenburg, like many other urban cities, indeed seems to be in need of a Third Space: To breathe between labour and domesticity, a space dedicated for the people. This thesis problematizes the city formed after industry. It attempts to propose a design for the individual as for the group within the urban room, fostering public agents and new communities & supporting domestic movements. The methodology used will investigate the industrial city that Gothenburg has become, in contrast to its early history as a merchant city, where social encounters constantly occurred next to the river banks. Another city, also very dependent on its river, with a merchant background, is Venice. Venetian Gothic architecture is explored within its urban expression, a precedent of The Urban Living Room, the space which the theory of The Third Space will be tested upon. The belief is that the urban model of Venice could give room for The Third Space. The testing platform is allocated on Gothenburg riverbank, surrounded by industry & domestic space. At first glance, the site seem to pose a lack of public & private gradients, leading to pedestrian confusion, ending up in neglection. The Third Space (Soja, 1996) is the transitional gap between the urban built form & the imagined, perceived space. It is the connection between the now & the future. It is a hybrid space where imagination & creativity occur.