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Text description provided by the architects. The perceived quality of life in buildings should come from the geometry and how that geometry connects to human beings". It was the initial thought we had when being offered to design a row house in Phu My Hung, a new urban development area in the Southern Saigon. This project could be considered as another attempt to find a contemporary living manner in row house typology. The brief was to get rid of the way of living we used to have in common town house, where the staircase in the center along with the corridor to access spaces covered by four walls which isolate people inside his own world. The client is a nuclear family, consisted of the parents and two kids with the explicit wish to have a home fulfilled with natural elements while being able to improve the spiritual connection between each family member.

Therefore, in a general view, the house looks like a composition of cubes as the private rooms while the spaces created under the shifting volumes will become the public areas for the family. The bold section plan which collateralized circulation, privacy, and activities-control, could be used to decide the function in each voids and volumes. Continuously, a circulation as a silk ribbon is consequently created to connect all spaces together and tighten the relationship of spaces. From the main entrance, a narrow covered passageway introduces people to a 5-meter-height living space with the rotating door system at the end of the house. This system would be opened to the backyard garden and instantly fulfilled by wind provided through the tunnel. The living space and the dining area both expands vertically, through a double height, which helps to harmonize the public spaces inside the house with the outdoor impression. Along the straight flight steel staircase, some floating private volumes such as library, space for the guest, and children space could gradually be seen. The master bedroom with the private common space in the fourth floor, are connected by a stone pavement that overcomes the garden which has been landscaped with indigenous plant and the top light above. The other utilities are arranged to be in the top floor. The rooftop garden provides outdoor space for the family to enjoy the night life in this new urban area. From the beginning till the end, the staircase - as the spine of the house lets us involve in a non-stop adventure to discover different places throughout the house.

The architecture takes advantage of two fronts, east and south. On one side which is also the main elevation, is to the sun, the other has a magnificent view to the public park of the ward. Into a consistent dialogue with the next-door landscape, large openings in the southern side are proposed to enjoy the spectacular scenery of enormous plantings from the parks, and witness the seasonally qualitative change throughout the years. The main elevation, also indicates clearly the concept of geometry, while the volumes are mostly covered by wooden louver to absorb an amount of the sun heat before coming inside the house, the rotating door system covering the second floor void, becomes the gate between the outside and inside of the house. When all the doors are opened, the nature could be invited to flow inside and later on, the outdoor feeling would be provided for the whole building. By that meaning, the natural elements are always welcomed to be one part of the house as the client's request.

We also have the practice that speculated on the idea to imitate the leaf-pattern and operate it as a decorative but still functional element. The outdoor wooden panels, which are externally arranged in checkerboard pattern to express the main concept of stacking and shifting volumes, become fruitful with the leaf-pattern carved in and through, one by one. On the other hand, the internal louvers can be rotated so as to adjust upon the sunlight. The exposed concrete floor become more interesting with the "carpet" made with the leaf-pattern terrazzo. Moreover, the furniture itself is another way to increase the variety of pattern in interior design. The brutal feeling, with this meticulous detail could somehow strongly strike the eye in aesthetic sense.

This architecture offers an interpretation of a fresh new lifestyle for young families in the modern tropical city. In another way, it could be considered as the cross point of modern and natural life which can be perfectly compatible with each other.

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Text description provided by the architects. The perceived quality of life in buildings should come from the geometry and how that geometry connects to human beings". It was the initial thought we had when being offered to design a row house in Phu My Hung, a new urban development area in the Southern Saigon.

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Lead Architect: Gonzalo Elizarraras, Maria Manuel Ponte

Design Team: Gonzalo Elizarraras, Maria Manuel Ponte, Alejandro Martinez, Martin Cesena, Ángel Máximo, David Campos

Text description provided by the architects. Located within the northern perimeter of the Estero de San José del Cabo (BCS Mexico), "Flor de Bambú" is the first materialization of a series of natural constructions that will compose the "Puerto Raíz" Project, a property created for the realization of events.

"Flor de Bambú" (Bamboo Flower) is generated with the idea of a courtyard as a starting point that welcomes visitors and distributes them in space, directing them to the private areas - the female or male bathrooms. A small courtyard protected by an ovoid-shaped wall of reed naturally follows the movement of the outer reed and contains the space without separating it from the natural environment. The planters create privacy and extend the natural envelope to the interior, creating the sensation of the continuation of the same natural environment.

The two ramps start the path to the bathrooms, leading visitors to lose themselves between the vertical bamboo strips that form the private cubicles and the textured wall of the urinals; a fine and elegant finish that form various elements integrally from walls, luminaires, to the structure itself.

Several bamboo columns form the central flower that opens up to the limits of the reed wall and, together with the horizontal rings, create a mesh of structural interdependence. A central concrete column roots and balances the structure. The metal hoops with tensioners are shaped like a mandala, allowing cooperation and balance between the different elements. Vertical bamboo poles help to support the entire fabric sideways, creating rhythm and disorder at the same time, almost as if they had grown there.

The materials evoke the local construction tradition and dignify its use today, in a harmonious composition between traditional and modern techniques of bio-construction using mostly elements that are part of the vernacular construction of Baja California Sur (reed, bamboo, wood). On the other hand, the incorporation of bamboo as the main theme seeks to promote the use of this natural resource present in the region, but not yet exploited as a noble construction material, seeking a change of the paradigm on a local level. The incorporation of metal in the connections allows a dialogue between traditional and industrial techniques, a dichotomy that promotes the revitalization of traditional construction techniques, preventing them from disappearing.

Since located next to Estero Josefino, a protected natural wetland area with a high risk of flooding, the structure was raised 1m from ground level with a stone base to avoid damage in case of flooding. On the other hand, the history of strong winds and hurricanes in the area determined the materialization of this structure that sought to be as permeable as possible. Thus, the shade mesh is easily removable so that the wind can pass between the organic elements without any impediment, and the flexibility of the bamboo itself allows it to move without collapsing.

Since being a sanitary installation, a micro plant for wastewater treatment was incorporated in order not to create organic sludge and allowing the purification of wastewater by finishing the cycle in an existing natural pond, creating a biological purifying filter enabling the future use of the water for irrigation and at the same time regenerating the natural environment and activating the ecosystem.

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Bathroom Pavillion Flor de Bambú / FabrikG

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Lead Architect: Gonzalo Elizarraras, Maria Manuel Ponte Design Team: Gonzalo Elizarraras, Maria Manuel Ponte, Alejandro Martinez, Martin Cesena, Ángel Máximo, David Campos Text description provided by the architects. Located within the northern perimeter of the Estero de San José del Cabo (BCS Mexico), "Flor de Bambú" is the first materialization of a series of natural constructions that will compose the "Puerto Raíz" Project, a property created for the realization of events.

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Stockholm studio Jägnefält Milton has designed a leaf-shaped pavilion for a woodland site - taking advantage of a new Swedish planning stipulation that allows structures under a certain size to be built without permission.

Jägnefält Milton collaborated with the Berlin office of engineering firm Arup on the design of Forest Pavilion, a simple woodland shelter designed to exploit a building law introduced earlier this year.

Chameleon Cabin made from paper changes colour when viewed from either side

The Attefallshus clause means planning permission is no longer required for structures with an area under 25 square metres and a height of less than four metres, so the architects designed a pavilion within these dimensions.

Forest Pavilion is designed as an oval platform with a matching roof made from lead. "It's a leaf, it's as simple as that," studio co-founder Konrad Milton told Dezeen.

Designs show a wooden platform with a patterned parquet floor that raises the base of the pavilion above the ground. According to the architects, all the timber needed for construction will be sourced during the site clearance.

"The wood came out of the material used directly from the site," said Milton, "and the reason for choosing a lead roof was that we wanted it to age in coherence with the site, the structure and the floor."

The leaf-shaped roof will be lifted above the platform on a single tapered column, supported by zigzagging cables that can be anchored to the ground by attaching a tether to a large boulder.

The diagonal cords between the roof and floor will also create a framework for a removable outer covering, allowing inhabitants to either open or close the space to the surrounding woodland.

Polyurethane sheeting was chosen as the lining for its waterproof properties - a material the architects claim has proved its effectiveness through its common use as a protective duvet covering for bed-wetters.

The pavilion is currently just a concept, but the team are seeking both a site and an investor to realise the project.

"So far we have no client for it, but anyone with a beech forest is welcome to contact us," added the architect.

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Jägnefält Milton's Forest Pavilion tests Swedish building law

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Stockholm studio Jägnefält Milton has designed a leaf-shaped pavilion for a woodland site - taking advantage of a new Swedish planning stipulation that allows structures under a certain size to be built without permission. Jägnefält Milton collaborated with the Berlin office of engineering firm Arup on the design of Forest Pavilion, a simple woodland shelter designed to exploit a building law introduced earlier this year.

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Gallery of NGA House / Sanuki Daisuke architects - 34

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Image 34 of 37 from gallery of NGA House / Sanuki Daisuke architects. Floor Plans

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Gallery of Breathing House / VTN Architects - 23

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Image 23 of 26 from gallery of Breathing House / VTN Architects. 5th Floor Plan

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Yamaji . Kamayachi | a f a s i a【2020】 | 鉄骨の家, ハウスデザイン, 狭小住宅

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2020/01/17 - このピンは、P SLさんが見つけました。あなたも Pinterest で自分だけのピンを見つけて保存しましょう！

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This home takes advantage of light and shadow to create an atmospheric home. The house can be found in Thủ Đức in Vietnam, and has been built for a young couple seeking a place to relax.

The couple contacted the design firm 23o5 studio in order to make their dream home a reality. The project, dubbed The Hut, was completed in 2017.

The house is nestled among other buildings in a developing area. However, you can really tell from the interior; most of the building's openings either look out to a courtyard or the sky above, isolating the home despite its central location.

The inward openings also help promote privacy in an otherwise densely populated area. Green spaces have also been introduced to help transport the occupants away from the bustling city: "The green spaces disappear due to urbanization, pose a question for us to bring the balance back."

The house is in many ways a fusion of traditional and modern Vietnamese design - there are elements of nature throughout mixed with the mod-cons of contemporary living: "With ideas emerging from traditional house Vietnamese spaces, combined with the modernization of the times, we bring to the owner a new mindset of space."

Given the house's long narrow form, entry is provided through a single entrance door at the front. The distinction between garden and home has been blurred with grapevines and tree's found as you progress through the space: "there is no limit between home and garden - feeling freedom."

Going from the front to the back, there's a small garden with a porch that leads through to the living room. This is followed by the kitchen/dining area. A toilet is placed at the end of the kitchen, before leading through to the bedroom and a shower. The very rear of the home features another small garden space.

For more small houses check out Retina House, a simple family retreat set among the hills of Santa Pau in Spain. Or, Bilgola Beach Pavilion, an extension to soak up the beach side views. See all small houses.

Photos © Hiroyuki Oki

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The Hut - Vietnamese Home Use Light and Greenery to Create an Urban Haven

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This home takes advantage of light and shadow to create an atmospheric home. The house can be found in Thủ Đức in Vietnam, and has been built for a young couple seeking a place to relax. The couple contacted the design firm 23o5 studio in order to make their dream home a reality.

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Gallery of House in Chau Doc / NISHIZAWAARCHITECTS - 12

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Image 12 of 39 from gallery of House in Chau Doc / NISHIZAWAARCHITECTS. Photograph by NISHIZAWAARCHITECTS

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Text description provided by the architects. Location of the house is Yonago-city Sanin area at the foot of Mt. Daisen which has national park.

This area has much rain throughout the year. In winter it blows a chill northwest wind and it snows a lot. The site is on a hill. So the scenery is wonderful but it gets the strong afternoon sunlight.

We planned the house there where client family (married couple, their two children and wife's mother who newly live together) lives.

We planned the house as divided/parted one. That architecture makes some benefits for the client such as keeping adequate privacy among the family. And client can sleep without any concern for disturbing noise of the other family members after his/her night shift work.

We designed the gabled folded-plate big roof which reaches ground at its one side on each "divided house." The roof keeps off rain throughout the year, chill northwest wind and snow in winter and strong afternoon sunlight in summer. And the roof can keep the client's privacy from neighbor houses.

In addition, natural sunlight comes in through the gap between the roof and "divided houses." So that inside the house is bright enough in daytime without lightings.

The big roof bulges for south side and west side. So that it blocks out direct daylight in summer and get a ventilation and comfortable housing space.

In the living room maximum height of the roof is 7.5 meters. The roof has an opening and a fan which has thermal sensor. They work for heat rejection and gives comfortable housing environment.

In winter the roof can bring in direct daylight due to low solar altitude and accumulate the heat into mortar floor. Floor heating system is only used at night time as an auxiliary use. In sort, we provide the comfortable housing space with less and less electrical facilities.

We designed that the roof wrap around the "divided houses." It gives that the client family feels their own bond. And the people come and go between each "divided house" which is private space and the living room like outside which is opened share space for the family.

We hope that the house helps client family's warm and fulfill life to live together under the big roof.

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Text description provided by the architects. Location of the house is Yonago-city Sanin area at the foot of Mt. Daisen which has national park. This area has much rain throughout the year. In winter it blows a chill northwest wind and it snows a lot. The site is on a hill.

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Nằm ở thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Park Roof House là ngôi nhà mà gia chủ xây dựng để nghỉ ngơi cuối tuần và dành tặng một phần cho người anh trai. Vì thế, yêu cầu được đưa ra cho nhóm kiến trúc sư là thiết kế cần mang đến một không gian xanh mát, nhiều ánh sáng mà vẫn đảm bảo sự riêng tư cần thiết.
Park Roof House nhìn từ xa gây ấn tượng bởi hệ cây xanh mát, phủ kín phần sân thượng Giải pháp bố trí lệch tầng giúp mở ra không gian thoáng đãng bên trong
Để giải quyết bài toán mà gia chủ đưa ra, các KTS đã đưa giải pháp bố trí lệch tầng. Khu vực cầu thang đồng thời cũng là giếng trời, giúp lưu thông không khí và đưa ánh sáng tự nhiên len lỏi vào nhà, tạo cảm giác thoáng mát.
Thiết kế nhà lệch tầng không những giúp không gian trông rộng hơn mà còn mang lại những góc nhìn đẹp mắt
Một trong các đặc điểm nổi bật của nhà lệch tầng là có thể tận dụng được nhiều khoảng không gian hơn. Ở Park Roof House, những khoảng trống được nhóm KTS tận dụng làm ban công trong nhà để trồng cây giúp điều hòa vi khí hậu, thanh lọc không khí trong nhà.
Những ô ban công ốp gạch đỏ như những chậu cây lớn được bố trí, sắp đặt từ trong ra ngoài, từ dưới lên trên, tạo sự độc đáo, lạ mắt cho không gian sống Mỗi ban công lại là một chủng loại cây khác nhau, kết hợp cùng gạch ốp mộc mạc càng mang lại cảm giác gần gũi với thiên nhiên
Điểm nổi bật trong thiết kế của Park Roof House là hệ cầu thang được bố trí thay đổi theo từng tầng, đem lại hiệu quả về thẩm mỹ và sử dụng đa dạng hơn.
Cầu thang xoắn lơ lửng kết nối giữa không gian tầng 2 và tầng 3 Sự đồng điệu giữa cầu thang bên trong và bên ngoài Thiết kế hợp lý đảm bảo sự riêng tư và có nhiều không gian xanh
Với diện tích xây dựng là 110m2, Park Roof House gồm 3 tầng và 1 sân thượng, được chia làm 2 khối riêng biệt. Nhằm thoả mãn mong muốn có một không gian xanh của gia chủ, các KTS đã thiết kế căn nhà với nhiều khoảng sân vườn.
Mặt tiền được bao phủ bởi cây xanh của Park Roof House Các loại cây rủ xuống như tấm màn che phủ cho ngôi nhà khỏi sự ồn ã, náo nhiệt ngoài kia Khoảng sân phía trước rộng rãi có thể ngồi thư giãn hoặc là nơi để xe ô tô vào ban tối Tầng 1 là không gian mở giữa phòng khách, bếp và bàn ăn. Nội thất được lựa chọn sử chủ yếu là gỗ mang lại sự ấm cúng và hòa hợp với màu xanh của cây cối Phần trần ốp gỗ được thiết kế như một mái nghiêng là điểm nhấn ấn tượng cho không gian
Tầng 2 và 3 là những không gian riêng tư như phòng ngủ master của gia chủ ở khối nhà bên trái; phòng ngủ của anh trai và con cái ở khối nhà còn lại. Tuy riêng tư nhưng vẫn có sự gắn kết nhờ khoảng thông giữa 2 tầng thoáng đãng, rộng mở.
Ban công trong nhà đặt ở mỗi phòng ngủ cũng là nơi trồng các loại cây, mang lại không khí thư thái, tươi mát Từ ban công các phòng có thể nhìn xuống tầng 1, mang đến sự gắn kết, dù riêng biệt nhưng vẫn không hề xa cách giữa các thành viên
Không chỉ có cây xanh trong nhà, hay ở ban công, gia chủ đã dành cả một mặt bằng sân thượng cho việc trồng cây và rau sạch. KTS nói vui rằng "Thay vì phải đi ra công viên, mọi người đã có công viên ngay trên mái nhà. Hàng ngày, các thành viên trong gia đình có thể đi bộ vào những buổi nắng sớm và thư giãn dưới những tán cây xanh tràn ngập bóng mát..."
Park Roof House được rất trồng rất nhiều loại cây và rau sạch - tuy ít nhưng đủ cho nhu cầu của gia đình Những buổi tối cuối tuần, mọi người trong gia đình thường ngồi lại cùng nhau dưới những tán cây để trò chuyện và ôn lại những kỷ niệm đẹp
Không phải ngôi nhà phố nào cũng được bao bọc trong không gian xanh mát như Park Roof House. Với cách thiết kế khéo léo, từng góc nhỏ trong nhà đều thoáng đãng và có thật nhiều ánh sáng - nơi đó ông bà, con cái và các cháu cùng nhau quây quần. Tất cả đã tạo nên một tổ ấm tuyệt vời!
Ảnh mặt bằng các tầng Ảnh mặt cắt Park Roof House Thông tin công trình: Tên công trình: Park Roof House Địa điểm: Q12, Tp.Hồ Chí Minh Đơn vị thiết kế: MDA ARCHITECTURE Kiến trúc sư chủ trì: Vũ Văn Minh Nhóm thiết kế: Thân Tiến Hoàng, Vũ Hà Anh Diện tích xây dựng: 110m2 Tổng diện tích sàn: 450m2 Năm hoàn thành: 2019 Ảnh: Quang Trần Bài viết: Minh Trang

"Nhà để yêu thương" là chiến dịch truyền cảm hứng được tổ chức bởi Happynest - Cộng đồng yêu nhà đẹp, nhằm tạo ra không gian để các thành viên chia sẻ những hình ảnh, cảm nghĩ ý nghĩa về gia đình. Chiến dịch "Nhà để yêu thương" được tổ chức trên group Happynest và sẽ diễn ra trong khoảng thời gian từ ngày: 26/06/2020 đến hết ngày 10/07/2020. Các bạn có thể tham gia bằng cách đăng ký làm thành viên của group và trực tiếp gửi bài dự thi tại đây. Thể lệ cụ thể của cuộc thi, vui lòng tìm hiểu thêm tại đây.

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Chiêm ngưỡng nhà phố lệch tầng ở Sài Gòn, nơi mỗi không gian đều xanh theo cách riêng

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Nằm ở thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Park Roof House là ngôi nhà mà gia chủ xây dựng để nghỉ ngơi cuối tuần và dành tặng một phần cho người anh trai. Vì thế, yêu cầu được đưa ra cho nhóm kiến trúc sư là thiết kế cần mang đến một không gian xanh mát, nhiều ánh sáng mà vẫn đảm bảo sự riêng tư cần thiết.

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森の別荘

森の別荘

もりの中の別荘 雨をしのぐ大きな屋根の下に

小さな寝室の箱を置きました。

寝室の箱は、生活に必要なトイレとお風呂を備えたコンパクトな室内になってぃる。

主構造をつくっている床デッキと大きい屋根は

地面から浮かせているため

きもちよい山風が通り抜け雨が降ってもすぐに乾燥する。

バーベキューをしたり飲み物を飲みながらみんなで話したり

ゆっくり本を読んだり、寝てみたり、川遊びした服を干したり・・・

この環境で生活する多くの時間を

自然の中や開放的なデッキの上で過ごすための家。

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森の別荘 森の別荘 もりの中の別荘 雨をしのぐ大きな屋根の下に 小さな寝室の箱を置きました。 寝室の箱は、生活に必要なトイレとお風呂を備えたコンパクトな室内になってぃる。 主構造をつくっている床デッキと大きい屋根は 地面から浮かせているため きもちよい山風が通り抜け雨が降ってもすぐに乾燥する。 バーベキューをしたり飲み物を飲みながらみんなで話したり ゆっくり本を読んだり、寝てみたり、川遊びした服を干したり・・・ この環境で生活する多くの時間を 自然の中や開放的なデッキの上で過ごすための家。

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In the surroundings of the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh, formerly Saigon, we find the Ha House, a project designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, one of the leading studios in Vietnam.

Currently Ho Chi Minh and its surroundings have a fairly high population density, which means that many of the resulting plots are rectangular in shape, with the lesser side as the main facade towards the street. This generates houses of great depth to which a good solution must be given so that they do not end up being gloomy and lifeless.

This is where Vo Trong Nghia Architects fulfills its function, projecting a staggered house that facilitates its external and internal relationship.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects has designed the Ha House in the surroundings of the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh. This house comes to provide a solution to a family made up of members of three different generations, whose request is that the project itself be a large garden according to each of the family's needs.

For this, this large garden is divided into different parts that are distributed throughout the house. This is achieved by creating a series of volumes that are set back in height while rotating, generating a spiral path. On the other hand, the material that defines the project is brick; a material with easy local access that reduces the cost of housing on the one hand (an indispensable condition for this project) and on the other hand reduces the environmental burden on transport.

Ha House is one of the 'Tree Houses' projects carried out in recent years by Vo Trong Nghia Architects. With this they try that the vegetation in the houses is an indispensable part of it, not a simple plant or tree, creating a closer relationship between nature and residents.

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VTN Architects (Vo Trong Nghia Architects). Founded in 2006, VTN Architects (Vo Trong Nghia Architects) is a leading architectural practice in Vietnam with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. More than 60 international architects, engineers and staff work closely on cultural, residential and commercial projects worldwide.

By experimenting with light, wind and water, and by using natural and local materials, VTN Architects employ a contemporary design vocabulary to explore new ways to create green architecture for the 21st century, whilst maintaining the essence of Asian architectural expression.

VTN Architects are in strong collaboration with Wind and Water House JSC, a construction company specializing in green buildings construction, to realize designs of high quality in Vietnam.

Vo Trong Nghiastudied architecture at the University of Tokyo before returning to Vietnam to establish Vo Trong Nghia Architects in 2006. Through a series of the award winning projects, Nghia has developed sustainable architectural design by integrating inexpensive, local materials and traditional skills with contemporary aesthetics and modern methodologies. Nghia has received numerous international prizes and honours including the World Architecture Festival Award, the ARCASIA award, the WAN 21 for 21 Award and the FuturArc Green leadership Award. In 2012, he was selected as the Architect of the year in Vietnam. Besides running his architectural practice, Nghia has continued to be involved in architecture at a grass roots level by teaching at the Nagoya Institute of Technology in 2011.

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Staggered connection of residents with nature. Ha House by Vo Trong Nghia Architects

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In the surroundings of the Vietnamese city of Ho Chi Minh, formerly Saigon, we find the Ha House, a project designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, one of the leading studios in Vietnam.

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杭州大叔包下山谷造民宿，成為櫻花季最美去處

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他為新家打造強大自循環系統，全年不花水電費   With His Self-circulating System, Say Goodbye to Utility Bills

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Text description provided by the architects. This is a plan for a newly-built "share house," a singular model of housing, even within the architectural industry. The "share house" is an increasingly popular style of living in Japan, somewhat close to a large house, where the water systems and living room are shared by the residents. What makes it different from a large house, however, is that the residents are not family and are, instead, unrelated strangers. So a special technique in both its management and its space becomes necessary for complete strangers to naturally continue to share spaces with one another.

In this design, focus was given to the fact that it was a newly constructed building, and the share house spaces were created through a reconsideration of the building's entire composition. The shared and individual spaces were studied simultaneously and, by laying out individual rooms in a three-dimensional fashion, multiple areas, each with a different sense of comfort, were established in the remaining shared space. While the entrance hall with its atrium and dining table space are perfect for gatherings of multiple people, the corner of the living room and spaces by the window are great for spending time alone. The kitchen counter is suitable for communication between a relatively small number of people. The rug space on the 1st floor is the most relaxed of all the spaces.

Through the creation of such spaces, the residents are able to use shared spaces more casually, as extensions of their individual rooms. At the same time, the individual rooms, which seem to have the same character in plan, are all different due to their relationships to the shared space, defined by characteristics like their distance and route from the living room.

While this share house has such rich shared spaces and spacious 12.4 square sized individual rooms, its total floor area divided by the number of residents amounts to a mere 23 square meters per person. This share house is thus so efficient and rich that the countless number of one-room apartments in the world seem to make less sense in comparison.

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LT Josai Shared House / Naruse Inokuma Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. This is a plan for a newly-built "share house," a singular model of housing, even within the architectural industry. The "share house" is an increasingly popular style of living in Japan, somewhat close to a large house, where the water systems and living room are shared by the residents.

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Using models, films, and walk-in displays, the exhibition addresses this global phenomenon of housing scarcity by presenting a broad array of collective building and living projects from Europe, Asia, and the United States: an overview of historical precedents for the current wave of collective living spaces.

Housing is scarce - that much has become evident in the last few years. As real estate prices in big cities continue to skyrocket, conventional ideas of housing development prove unable to meet demands. The reaction to these challenges has been a silent revolution in contemporary architecture - towards collective building and living.

Using models, films, and walk-in displays, the exhibition "Together! The New Architecture of the Collective" addresses this global phenomenon by presenting a broad array of collective building and living projects from Europe, Asia, and the United States. An overview of historical precedents for the current wave of collectives demonstrates that the idea of collectivity has been a recurring theme in the history of architecture, from the reformist ideas of the nineteenth century to the hippies and squatters of the twentieth who touted the slogan " Make love, not lofts ".

Practical Information

Together. The architecture of the Collective
June 3 - September 10, 2017
Vitra Design Museum
Charles-Eames-Straße 2, Weil am Rhein/Basel
Switzerland

The exhibition begins with a look at the history of social housing ideals that mostly originated in a protest against the existing conditions. The presentation stresses this and refers to the urgency of the topic: a series of films shows examples of social unrest triggered by housing shortages.

Protest placards provide information about historical attempts to respond to these challenges. These include the Phalanstères invented by Charles Fourier (1772-1837), the late-nineteenth-century Monte Verità colony in the Swiss part of the Ticino, the housing cooperatives of the 1920s, the autonomous community of Christiania in Copenhagen, and the Karthago cooperative in Zurich.

Many of these ideas were closely related to the social shifts of their day; it is therefore no surprise that they are once more gaining currency as more and more people live outside the conventional nuclear family - be it as couples, single parents, singles, or elderly people living alone. For many, the idea of collective living offers an affordable remedy to urban isolation.

The exhibition's second section uses 21 large-scale models of contemporary housing experiments to create a fictitious city for visitors to explore. In reality these projects by architects including einszueins architektur, Heide & von Beckerath, Michael Maltzan Architecture, ON design partners, pool Architekten, and Ryue Nishizawa may be found in cities as diverse as Berlin, Zurich, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Vienna.

A closer look at the models reveals that the innovative thrust of this new collective architecture also extends to fundamental principles such as volume, façade, and materials: the specific challenges and limited resources confronting the architects give rise to a unique aesthetic. The context of the imaginary city moreover shows that many of these projects blur the boundaries between living space and urban space, between private and public sphere.

This becomes clear in the third section, where a full-scale model of what is known as a "cluster apartment " enables visitors to enter and experience the communal and private spaces that characterise this housing type. Background information - including floor plans - sheds light on the many forms that new collective lifestyles can take. The installation features a series of photographs by Daniel Burchard made especially for the exhibition.

His photographic essays provide an insider's look at eight projects from a variety of countries, documenting scenes from everyday life in the new collectives. This shows that the new collectives emerge as social laboratories not least because the digitalisation gives rise to new possibilities of life/work organisation.

How does the new architecture of the collective work in economic terms, which new challenges come with it, and how can innovative housing forms actually be realised? Answers to these questions are provided in case studies of the Sargfabrik in Vienna, Zwicky-Süd in Zurich, La Borda in Barcelona, R50 in Berlin, and the Apartments with a Small Restaurant in Tokyo.

The section's workspace setting incidentally highlights the new funding options arising from the close integration of public and private functions in many of these projects. At the Kalkbreite in Zurich, for example, approximately half the floor area is reserved for commercial and other non-residential uses including a cinema, a packaging-free supermarket, three restaurants and cafés, health consultancies, various offices, and a publicly accessible courtyard with a playground.

Projects like Kalkbreite show that non-profit collective housing experiments can thrive within, and actually transform, the commercially driven real-estate market for the better. Grassroots movements such as Occupy have had a dramatic impact on the political landscape, just as the "sharing economy" is revolutionising the very idea of property ownership.

This exhibition manifests how these ideas are changing the way in which inhabitants and architects together conceive new forms of living which, beyond meeting individual needs, provide an answer to a central question of our time: how do we want to live together in the future?

News source: Vitra Design MuseumSubscribe to get weekly updates about architecture events and exhibitions.

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"Together. The architecture of the Collective" at Vitra Design Museum - BMIAA

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Using models, films, and walk-in displays, the exhibition addresses this global phenomenon of housing scarcity by presenting a broad array of collective building and living projects from Europe, Asia, and the United States: an overview of historical precedents for the current wave of collective living spaces.

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HAPPI PROJECT WINNER AND RICHARD FEILDEN AWARD

Architect
Pollard Thomas Edwards

Developer
Older Womens Co-housing and Hanover

Planning Authority
London Borough of Barnet

Click on an image below for a larger view

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HAPPI PROJECT WINNER AND RICHARD FEILDEN AWARD Architect Pollard Thomas Edwards Developer Older Womens Co-housing and Hanover Planning Authority London Borough of Barnet Click on an image below for a larger view

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1. centraal wonen
2. zean macfarlane

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Class A Design Institute: Xiamen Hordor Architecture & Engineering Design Group Ltd., No.1 Civil Design Institute

Integration
Text description provided by the architects. When I first stepped out into the site of Xinnan Kindergarten, I was a bit down and disappointed. Looking around, in this village nearby the Xiamen Island, I saw nothing but the barren fields and messy country houses. It has neither the rich and interesting information nor the fascinating surroundings.

Kindergarten construction belongs to the grassroots people's livelihood project, mainly meeting the growing educational needs of preschool children in several natural villages nearby. The project investment budget is also relatively tight: the construction scale of 3,900 square meters with 12 classes, and the comprehensive cost of 2,000 yuan per square meter (including the sitie, civil work, equipments, simple interior decoration, etc.) Moreover, it should be directly delivered to the users.
Contrast
Although there are some disadvantages on the site and the budget, we still need to find some way to do our best to get it done.

The "face" of the Dongliao Village is nothing different from other natural villages in the suburbs. The left-behind people lived on their own land, and they saved the money to build a house, which basically followed the principle of "economical and applicable": horizontal and vertical, and well-regulated. The doors and windows are casual, but it still conforms to the interior functions. As for the "beauty", according to the conditions of each family, decorative overlay of red bricks with Minnan characteristics is applied in order to obtain the good luck. After imitating the buildings with each other, it became a common style. The kindergarten's with nearly 4,000 square meters is going to be built in this village, It should be an unprecedented public building. What would it look like?

We don't want to build an alien creature， even if the kindergarten is always recognized as"overly dressed up".

Thus, similar to the houses nearby, this kindergarten building is designed as a simple square box. The shape is the most simplified, so the exterior wall area is the smallest. It may reduce some cost. The doors and the windows are based on the interior functions. The children's classrooms and activity rooms are opened up to make the interior space as bright as possible. The exterior wall are decorated by Minnan local red bricks. But there're a little bit interesting changes in the masonry construction. This may be slightly different from the surrounding rural houses. It's so-called "beautiful" and "contemporary". After the house was built, some new teachers even cannot recognize which building is the kindergarten at first sight since it's almost the same with other surrounding houses. They think it is special.

After all, the "face" of the house is not our main focus. We were trying to deal with the external features of the building with maximum restraint. We mainly focus on how to show the interior space of the building. We should spend a lot of time working on it.
Circulation
We firstly created a number of courtyards inside the building, and the main functions were based on the courtyards. With the counrtyards, the ventilation is good and the space is bright. The two main courtyards are designed to be a large and a small circles. There is a clear contrast between this round courtyard and the square-shaped building. The building looks a little bit like a big cheese. In the small round courtyard, trees are planted to introduce the seasonal changes, and the big round courtyard is for outdoor activities function.

The main color and materials in the interior space are pure, fine white, and the ground is decorated by active colors in order to active the atmosphere. Although it has a big contrast with the surrounding red bricks, it increases the fluidity of the space.

Due to the cost control, there's no budget for the suspended ceiling in the public area. We try to make the exposed beams display in a smart way, and adjusted to the interior space as well. Besides, we tactfully deal with the position of all kinds of pipelines and try to maintain beautiful surface.

Actually, we intentionally make the big contract between the inside and the outside, the square and the circle, and the red and the white. We look forward to seeing the surprise faces of the children when they enter the house. We would like to offer them the opportunity to have a different daily life experience in a place that accords with real kindergarten space.

There is always an inseparable link between the streamline and the space, and the interesting streamline design further stimulates the possibility of the activities. Children of this age seem to have endless energy to play. Chasing with each other again and again is full of attraction and temptation to them.

The appearance of two round courtyards, large and small, provides a stage for such scene. The main communication space in the kindergarten surrounds the courtyards, which naturally forms an "8"-shaped space. In this space, the streamline of the infinite shuttle loop is created, soft and smooth, with fewer edges and less angles. It is better for children's daily activities.

Due to complex realistic conditions, the construction process didn't go smoothly. We have limited choices in materials and crafting selection, which left some regrets, but we believe that all parties have done their best. Regarding the design itself, we also have a lot not to be considered enough and we still have room to improve. Fortunately, our initial idea about the house retained finally.

At that moment, I saw children running freely in the bright and fluid courtyards. I heard a young teacher who was just on board said that she decided to come to this kindergarten because she liked this house. My upset heart calmed down. We've at least done something meaningful.

Once I talked with the headmaster. She said, "If this kindergarten is built in the city, it may be better." If so, it will be another building and another story. In fact, it is not the wrong position of the house, but the improvement of overall level of the region construction still requires the joint efforts from all parties in the society.

It's a long road. Let's inspire with each other and keep moving forward.

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Between Square and Circle: Xinnan Kindergarten / Jin Niu

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Class A Design Institute: Xiamen Hordor Architecture & Engineering Design Group Ltd., No.1 Civil Design Institute Integration Text description provided by the architects. When I first stepped out into the site of Xinnan Kindergarten, I was a bit down and disappointed.

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Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein - A Pattern Language_ Towns, Buildings, Construction (Cess Center for Environmental) (1977, Oxford University Press) - libgen.lc.pdf

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Römer founded the collective network after his participation in Metavilla,the project for the French pavilion at the 2006 Venice Biennale, on the joint invitation of Patrick Bouchain and the French collective Exyzt. In December 2016, I was invited to take part in the first gathering of ConstructLab.

I recently met Alexander Römer in his-of course, collaborative-Berlin office to reflect on the projects and typologies they developed and experimented with through the years. Beyond developing sociopolitical and architectural recipes, ConstructLab produces research on the quality of life that they build together for themselves, for and with the local communities worldwide where they work. Their practice revolves around the question: What does 'collaborative city' mean and how can it be achieved?

"Together as in Building Together". Where does this idea come from?
Building together is not a new idea, it is rather a very old one. In the medieval times, in the villages, when a farmer needed a new barn, the farmer called the carpenter to realize the construction. But already, as a carpenter, you can't work alone. You always need a team of two or three people. The skilled workers would prepare for two or three weeks all the pieces for the construction-they would cut and assemble them on the ground. Hence, in order to build the structure up, they needed as many hands as possible: the farmer would ask all the villagers to come and help [erect] the future barn. And well... to drag people to help, what's [better] than partying?
we understand 'togetherness' as a gathering of individuals around a collaborative situation

Within a couple of days, they would work and celebrate together their collective and visible achievement. This is what we call traditionally Richtfest in Germany [in English, 'topping out']. This ritual is still celebrated in contemporary construction sites but in most of the cases it has lost its voluntary aspect. The inauguration is another celebrated moment in the construction, marking the beginning of long years of inhabitation, but the real collaborative moment is very much related to the structure of a building. This is what we do, we gather for short times on a site and we call upon the local communities to help us to... celebrate and build together. It is always a nice moment.

I think it is essential to be and work in teams-even more for architects. In ConstructLab, we understand 'togetherness' as a gathering of individuals around a collaborative situation. It does not mean that those individuals need to follow one: we really put the emphasis on the collaborative work, at any phase of a project. For projects on a larger political level, reintroducing togetherness into public space becomes a strong political act. Very often, you are not allowed anymore to do anything...in the public realm; the most common collaborative moment in public space nowadays is the act of protest. Instead, we should use public space to create social dynamics. 'Togetherness' guarantees the permanence of a project; it makes you stronger. It gives you force.

When talking about 'togetherness' you refer to crafts, not to architecture. Isn't 'architecture' enough to gather around?
The most important [thing] is that both crafts and architecture are coming together. How do we create this moment in a collaborative workshop? It is not only about the act of building, but also about the place where that act happens. I'm thinking here of the building shelter, the building lodge, the exchange of skills and knowledge. Even though you come with a certain competence, you still learn a lot by helping others on their tasks. The social aspect of making together is very central to us: eating together, cooking while making the building, investigating the neighborhood, or documenting the process and the project... In traditional architectural projects, it seems that only the final result is honored, when the building stands alone. Within a construction site, togetherness is omnipresent: the workers gather, eat, live, exchange, negotiate, and so on. In ConstructLab, we decide to celebrate the process, from the first time we discuss until the construction is standing and used.
Our imagination sometimes transforms into reality.
To join a collaborative process as you depict it, it seems that the nature of your skills or specialties doesn't really matter, as long as everybody gathers around the same aim and ideal. Is that right? How does that really work?
Yes. Exactly. The complementary skills are revealed and come together through the process. I think there is a technical-or maybe rational-aspect of making projects together. The question is rather how to join a group...and what is the keystone that holds this group together. In our projects, we use different narrative forms: for example, we often perform a role play within the team. Imagine you build a swimming pool and everybody becomes a lifeguard. Or you build a mill and some become the miller while others [become] the baker. We also like to propose a sort of mad enterprise (Verrücktes Unternehmen) that we need to realize: a bit like the movie of Werner Herzog where they bring a boat over the mountain. It's a challenge: you are moved by the will to go together and do something big, and for that, you need to organize it collectively. We use those narratives to involve the local community. On the one hand, they are curious to see us act and perform and, on the other hand, it relates to something they know better than we do, as our narratives are often created out of their local culture, according to what we observed through our investigation or with the stories we borrow from the local storytellers. Participation is often related to curiosity and enthusiasm, triggered by what people can see. It is always better to create the situation where people come and join you on their own time and will, instead of trying to bring them in.

In fact, if we already use narration in the building process, we repeat the same method in a place's activation process: the act of building gives a strong impulse, but the act of inhabiting generates togetherness. Inhabiting the place we design and build is very important to guarantee the liveliness of a space once we leave. Somehow, daily life allows you to articulate the projects: going every morning to buy the bread for everybody, for example... Having these daily life rituals make you a real neighbor for the others in a local area. People get used to you, get used to the place and at some point, you can almost disappear as the locals started as well to develop a new routine with that place. Our imagination sometimes transforms into reality.

Beyond imagination and narration, how do you encourage 'togetherness' spatially?
The very first typology we use to gather is the circle. You are in a circle to discuss, and we need to do it a lot. We need to talk about what we are doing that day, who is doing what, what is missing, but also about who is not happy with a situation.

Discussing doesn't mean only like, or love... it is also about conflict, letting this conflict happen and get it solved. The round situation is where you can debate problems. As far as the middle of the circle is kept free, everybody is democratically on the same level. The circle can be generated without architecture, but architecture makes it more suitable, more comfortable somehow. If you start to build tribunes, it becomes suddenly an agora. If you make it more steep, it becomes denser. We tried a lot of different models playing with modules, proportions and dimensions. For example, we did an agora without an exit. I just showed that one in a conference and I was asking the audience what was missing. They consensually answered 'the entrance', but it is not true: the entrance is there at first to invite people in, right when you need to enter. On the contrary, once it's full and the entrance is closed, it suddenly disappears. It's an interesting way to look at it: you were not allowed to escape if there are any problems. You were somehow stuck in democracy and what you need to escape is to discuss and collaborate.

Another interesting model of an agora we realized is the one we made in Italy. At first, she started to paint circles on the ground. Simple lines. She then aligned chairs with different heights around those lines. It was the simplest and cheapest tribune one can actually make.When you plan without use, people have the possibility to propose one

In Mons, in Belgium, for the European Capital of Culture in 2015, it was very different. We had a very large surface to play with. The circle became a big square, a large platform with only one or two rows to sit on. It was a very lively playground, and sometimes even a stage. We performed presentations, a banquet, a yoga class, a concert... everything seemed to be possible there. Among the different activities, we thought of the Île des Réunions that we developed in collaboration with Les Commissaires Anonymes, evoking at the same time the sunny French island in the southern hemisphere-important when you are in rainy Europe-that could be translated literally as the "Island for Meeting". Every Sunday afternoon, we invited people to debate. It developed in a way that the neighbors would also propose themes to debate. It became again a ritual-the ritual to gather once a week and have this moment of exchange. If you have a problem during the week, you can say: "Hey, let's meet and talk about it in the Île des Réunions on Sunday." For our collective it was also very interesting: to present an issue in the Île des Réunions, you need to think about how to present the problem and you have some time to do so. It is very different from a one to one spontaneous discussion: there, you need to create a group situation and you almost need to get people on your side. Through the island and the regular meetings, we observed the movements and flows of power within the group. Even if we are independent individuals acting collaboratively with a common aim, there are naturally power struggles. I think it is essential to give those struggles a space and to build upon them. One could think of the Theater of the Oppressedof Augusto Boal in Brazil. As theater director, he developed a performative format in order to tackle problems within communities: if problems appear within a small neighborhood, he proposes performative situations where people play their issues on stage, as an active and engaging process to solve conflicting situations. I think it has a real learning value for communities. We actually use the typology of the agora in both ways: to host celebrations and as a spatial form for conflicts resolution.

ConstructLab projects always seem to be located somewhere between the visible-the built structures-and the invisible-the performative content. What are the other notions that are central to your practice?
Instead of visible, [we] speak about "Support Structure"-in relation to the work of Céline Condorelli-meaning the infrastructure and the visible structures we build in order to get to the aim we announce. When we invest a place, there is nothing, so we first need to build the structures for our basic needs: we need shelter, to eat, to clean and to bath. So we build a roof, a kitchen, a shower and toilets. The process always helps to create awareness about our basic needs, and to progressively regain a situation of acceptable comfort. Sometimes we also build a sauna as an extension of the basic amenities, for pleasure... and for the sake of the ritual, of course. Then comes the construction of the projects themselves, the bigger structures, and the first ones serve the other ones. This is all visible. It exists. In Mons, we even called the project Mon(s) Invisible, because it was very much about the invisible relations we are now talking about. You can't really grab them, but you can try to describe the situation, you can recall the story. For instance, we made a one-week workshop with colleagues and friends of ours who are working within the design field on the questions of performance, relations, etc. We called it Mon(s) Diffusion [ Blurry Mons] as the notion of blurriness is always a good entrance point. To talk about the invisible, you need to start to blur the visible, to trouble it. It's like fog, somewhere in between-you can't really say what it is.If a project is not unpredictable, you cannot invite people to take control

We also used that notion in Portugal in the Casa do Vapor [ the Steam House]. Steam is also blurry and not defined. It was very important to say that we made a house-an easily identified form. We built a structure without exactly knowing what would come in. When you plan without use, people have the possibility to propose one. We had an intuitive idea that the house should host a surf school but we never reach that aim. We first found the surfer who was ready to participate in the project, but he then fell in love with a lady of our team, having no longer time to develop the school... unpredictable. I often emphasize the importance of the uncontrollable, or rather of planning 'out of control'. As you can imagine, it is very difficult to defend this idea when we talk to politicians about our methods. Why would they give money to make projects out of control? Indeed, they are out-of-control, but still, within a frame and with a certain direction. It is never chaos. If a project is not unpredictable, you cannot invite people to take control, to feel responsible for it and unleash their potential. It is very satisfying to be surprised by what they become.

Sometimes it can be hard if the result is not fitting your first intentions, but, in fact, the project appears to be more grounded and much stronger because it comes out of a situation, a constructed idea, a collaborative mind and work. I don't have yet the answer on how to make this happen on a larger scale, on bigger projects. To deliver an adaptable structure? It is so complicated.

Your collaborations take sometimes some unexpected turns, whether it is through the variety and the quality of your collaborators or the extent of your ambitions for a site. How do you see the future of the project?
For Mont Réel, our next project in Montreal we proposed to work around three types of forms: the constructed form, the living form and the popular science form.

The constructed form is self-explanatory. The living form concerns also a construction, but rather the one of a performance: we invite artists, musicians and a choir to join and perform while we build. They will accompany us through the construction but as well present the musical result for the opening event. Thanks to their music, the construction site will have the potential of being reproduced. Through the power of improvisation, the music will express a strong relation to the construction process. This idea allows us to gather other kinds of people: the ones who are not able to build or the ones who can't be there everyday but still want to engage in other ways.
The permanence of our projects doesn't depend on us, but rather on the will of local actors

The popular science form is directly related to the site. It is located on the future extension of the science campus of one of the biggest Montreal University. In the next five years, the campus will be built and defined. Therefore, we proposed in the meantime to displace the science and research laboratories to the public space we will inhabit, whereas those uses usually take place between closed walls. We think it is relevant to put this knowledge into a frontal situation where it has to deal not only with researchers and academics but also with people who carry their dog around. How to make such research [comprehendible] for the people? Local communities develop more and more interest for ecology and alternative energy that they could apprehend and experiment on site.

Once again, we engage towards uncertainty: we know we can achieve the constructed form as we have the competences to produce it. For the living form, we know that by inviting the right people, the magic might happen. In contrast, the popular science form represents here the biggest challenge: while our team will stay only three weeks, the scientific research residence out of the walls will run over a one-year period. The permanence of our projects doesn't depend on us, but rather on the will of local actors and decision makers who see in it the local potential beyond our presence on-site. Who knows... maybe we will find some crazy scientist who engages and joins us on the three weeks of our intervention to present their first results for the inauguration. The future is definitely made of surprises.
ConstructLab has recently published a new book Livre Invisible. Check it out here.

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Building 'togetherness' through architecture: an interview with ConstructLab

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Römer founded the collective network after his participation in Metavilla,the project for the French pavilion at the 2006 Venice Biennale, on the joint invitation of Patrick Bouchain and the French collective Exyzt. In December 2016, I was invited to take part in the first gathering of ConstructLab.

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Allow your parents to work or do volunteer activities to fill up their time.

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Our nation is ageing rapidly. Thanks to medical advances, improvements in hygiene and food supply, Malaysians are living longer. But our infrastructure and services haven't moved in tandem to keep up with the needs of the elderly.

The concern is not only about the size of the ageing population, but also their health, welfare, care and living arrangements.

Malaysia's Healthcare National Key Economic Area estimated that the country will reach ageing nation status in just 10 years, with more than 15% of the population being aged 60 and over by then.

Malaysia is not alone in facing the prospect of having an ageing population, nor is this a recent trend. A United Nations report issued in 2002 states that by 2050, the number of older persons in the world will exceed the number of young for the first time in history.

Universiti Putra Malaysia's Institute of Gerontology director Prof Datuk Dr Tengku Aizan Hamid, says, "We have the policies but they haven't been implemented. We need to experiment with small things first, then scale up, but our government always starts with a bang and then things fizzle out.

"If you do things incrementally, there will be no hard questioning. Don't waste the limited resources we have. We will have nothing in place if we don't plan ahead. The elderly have a heterogeneous background. Less than 5% of Malaysians are poor and eligible for welfare, so they are taken care of.

"Many of our services are in urban areas where people can afford them. So the rich and the poor are taken care of, but there is nothing affordable for those in between. And what about the rural areas?"

She points out that Malaysia needs more social care than clinical care.

"You don't need to be medically trained but be equipped with caregiving skills to look at these issues. Unfortunately, our insurance doesn't cover social care. Care in ageing is very different from curative and medical care," she says.

Look after yourself

Prof Tengku Aizan, who is also the supreme management committee member of the National Council of Welfare and Social Development Malaysia, highlighted data showing that many seniors do not practise self-care.

"If you live alone, have no non-communicable diseases and don't suffer, then it's fine. If not, the family also suffers. We have to educate the young to prepare for old age in terms of health and finances.

"Don't depend on your children. If they're there, then consider it a bonus. If not, what are your alternatives? The elderly must also change their perspective about being old. Many of us think we are old before we are actually old!

"Allow your parents to work or do volunteer activities to fill up their time. That gives them a more positive impact than just 'waiting to die'. Don't worry about what others say by allowing your parents to work," she advises.

Prof Tengku Aizan suggests that community cooperatives be set up to cater for the elderly.

According to a Universiti Malaya survey conducted in 2014, one in 10 seniors are abused in urban areas, while the figure is one in 20 in rural areas.

"Family members may not necessarily live together, but all forms of abuse happens, e.g. neglect, physical, emotional, psychological and financial.

"Neglect is especially rampant though it may be unintentional, but what is really sad is there are Malaysians who have no access to food, clothing and shelter," says Dr Rajini Sooryanarayana, a public health medicine specialist and researcher from the Institute for Public Health.

Many unseen problems are also not addressed. She says, "For example, one in six elderly need assistance in feeding, toileting, grooming, etc. All of us will age one day so awareness and training is important."

The results of the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2018 with a focus on elderly (aged 60 and above) health is expected to be released in March 2019.

A care professional's story

When Prabjoth Kaur - or Jo, as she prefers to be called - was asked to pay a visit to an elderly lady, she took it on as another job. The care recipient was a former matron in her 80s, single, lived alone, had Parkinson's disease and refused to take baths.

For more than a month, she hadn't take a shower and reeked. The nephew, who acted as sole caregiver, was in a tizzy and sought professional help. As a nurse with a decade of experience working in hospitals, Jo had seen plenty such cases.

She recalls, "During the first visit, I introduced myself as a caregiver; she let me in, but refused to talk because she couldn't accept that I had come to assist. The next time, I wore normal clothes and introduced myself as a friend. I told her we were going for lunch and that she needed to shower.

"She had been surviving on biscuits and coffee daily. Her nephew would take her out once a week and she looked forward to these outings. That made her shower. After a few visits, she's so much more cheerful and doesn't feel as isolated.

"The elderly are like smart kids - they know everything - they're also terribly sensitive so you need to be extremely patient. Don't shout at them because that makes them aggressive."

From her experience, Jo says none of the elderly want to live in nursing homes, but are forced to do so by their children or relatives.

"When they are hospitalised, many cry and say they want to stay longer because they don't want to return to the old folk's home. It's really heartbreaking to hear them say that," says Jo, who spends between three and eight hours a day with the care recipients.

It is dangerous for the elderly to be living alone, but sometimes, they have no choice. Every elder person's goal, Jo opines, should be not to trip and fall. She says, "The high risk ones are those above 60 and can walk. The ones above 80 need more help so they cannot walk as fast."

For dementia patients, they may turn on the gas stove and forget about it, thus, their living space needs to be modified for safety.

"Some are stubborn and don't want to change their routine. They don't want to use a bedpan, don't want to take their medicines or only want a particular child to feed them. Usually, if they refuse to eat, I won't eat either, so that turns them around," says Jo.

Another care professional-cum-physiotherapist Vijita Sivanjanam adds, "Initially when we go in, there is a bit of awkwardness. You've got to be friendly, make the seniors realise they're not in need but that we're here to assist.

"The more they grow fond of you, the more they will open up and allow you to help."

Ageing in place

Research shows that most elderly want to "age in place", i.e. have the ability to live independently in their own home safely and comfortably, regardless of age, income or ability level.

Packed with people of all different physical abilities, nursing homes can be overcrowded, limiting the amount of attention and care that the staff can provide at any one time.

"Even the daily simple living needs are a challenge for service providers. Some people are also very resistant to care. That's why we need different care professionals with different skill sets," says Gillian Tee, CEO and co-founder of Homage, a Singapore-based caregiving services platform.

All the experts above were speaking at a panel discussion on "How Malaysia Is Preparing For Its Ageing Future" during the launch of Homage in Malaysia on Feb 14, 2019.

Homage melds qualified care professional with smart technology to provide on-demand home caregiving for seniors, in Kuala Lumpur and selected areas in Selangor.

Tee says, "My co-founder Lily Phang and I saw the pressing need for holistic care services that not only met our seniors' medical needs, but also helped them be more mobile and functional, providing emotional and social care to them in the comfort of their own homes.

"So we started Homage to help our loved ones age with grace, control and dignity. We wanted to build a service we could trust our own parents with. Ultimately, we also want to help give family members and primary caregivers respite, helping them self-care so they can continue to be a support to those around them."

Planning ahead is hard because you never know how your needs might change. The first step is to think about the kinds of help you might want in the near future. One way to begin planning is to look at any illnesses you might have, e.g. diabetes.

Talk with your doctor about how these health problems could make it hard for someone to get around . If you're a caregiver for an older adult, learn how you can get them the support they need to stay in their own home.

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Malaysia is getting old fast, but are we ready for an elderly nation?

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Our nation is ageing rapidly. Thanks to medical advances, improvements in hygiene and food supply, Malaysians are living longer. But our infrastructure and services haven't moved in tandem to keep up with the needs of the elderly. The concern is not only about the size of the ageing population, but also their health, welfare, care and living arrangements.

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As we get older, our social circles tend to become smaller. This leaves many seniors at risk of loneliness and social isolation, which can negatively impact their physical and mental health. In fact, 30% of the elderly population in Malaysia either live alone or with their elderly spouse (compared to 14.7% in 2004), according to the 2014 National Population and Development Board Survey.

As caregivers, we play a key role in supporting the well-being of our loved ones, both in the mind and body. One way is through activities. We have curated a list of 21 senior-friendly activities from 6 categories: Arts & Crafts, Culture, Nature, Music, Fitness, and Cause-Related Activities.

Together with your loved ones, here are some ideas (or 20!) that you can do both in and out of home that are great for both the young and young at heart in the new year ahead.

At Home
1. Get creative at home
Stock up on some colour pencils, paintbrushes, and colouring books from your nearest bookstore and have some therapeutic fun while colouring and painting! Add a hint of nostalgia with batik painting kits from e-commerce platforms such as Shopee or DIY lantern ideas from Pinterest.
2. Start an upcycling project
Get creative while saving the earth. Instead of disposing of plastic bottles and used jars, turn them into useful pieces in your home garden or festive decorations! Get inspired by organisations such as Me.reka Makerspace.

Out of Home
3. Sign up for an art workshop
Get hands-on with art. From canvas painting and calligraphy to pottery and knitting, there will definitely be one which appeals to your loved one. You can go to Craftiviti where one can take up soap-making, art pouring and even doll making.
4. Attend art festivals
For those who appreciate art, take part in themed art festivals happening all over Malaysia such as the annual Art Expo Malaysia, KL International Arts Festival, and the George Town Festival on the Penang island.

At Home
5. Play a mix of old school and new kid on the block games
Go back in time as you and your loved ones engage in a nostalgic game of 5 stones, pick up sticks, as well as traditional games like the Chinese Chess and Congkak available here. For a local twist, check out these card games from The Lepak Game and The Malaysian Dream. You can also level up to play with the latest devices for a fun-filled time with the younger ones on gaming consoles and challenge yourself with with brain-stimulating games on senior-friendly tablets.

Out of Home
6. Stroll along Heritage Trails
Soak up Malaysia's glorious past and relive the good ol' days by going for heritage trails in all the different states such as the The Ipoh Heritage Walk that will take you through the yesteryears of a former mining city. The oldest city in Malaysia filled with culinary delights and centuries old buildings, Melaka is a great place to explore on foot.

In Kuala Lumpur, there are many trails to choose from, covering areas like Merdeka Square, Chinatown, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Brickfields. Guide trails throughout Malaysia can be obtained online or through the Malaysian Tourist Information Centre (MaTiC).

7. Visit museums

Did you know that Malaysian seniors can go to museums for free ? Some great museums to check out are Muzium Negara, National Science Museum, and Pinang Peranakan Mansion.

At Home
8. Pick up gardening
Gardening can bring a host of health benefits by keeping us physically active, giving us a sense of purpose and improving our mental wellbeing. Encourage your loved one to pick up gardening at home, or better yet, turn it into a social activity and participate in community gardens in the neighbourhood. You can also have your very own farm-to-table experience by growing edible plants at home with these few tips.

Out of Home
9. Spend some time with nature
Need a whiff of fresh air? Venture out of home for a walk on senior friendly nature trails such as Perdana Botanical Gardens and Penang Botanic Gardens and take some time to appreciate the wonders of nature.
10. Participate in nature workshops
From floral arrangement to DIY terrariums, there is something for everyone and one is never too old to lear something new. Try an afternoon with terrariums or get creative with flower arrangements.

At Home
11. Listen to the classics
Feel young again grooving to the classics! It may not be easy to find vinyl and cassette players anymore, but their modern versions - radio and Spotify - work just as well. Create or hunt for a playlist and take a trip down memory lane with Elvis Presley, P Ramlee, Marvin Gaye or the Beatles. Old is gold!
12. Guess the song
Spice things up with a memory game! Play a tune and try to recall the song's title - fastest person wins. You can even have your own Music Bingo to play with your loved ones!

Out of Home
13. Sing-along
Turn up the music and sing your heart out to familiar tunes from the '50s and '60s! Gather your singing kakis for a karaoke session in your neighbourhood to relive the yesteryears of classic hits.
14. Learn to play an instrument
Express yourself through rhythm, beats and melodies. Community centres like YMCA offers harmonica lessons where you can be a novice musician in a heartbeat.
15. Go for a night out
Any night is always a good night to go for an orchestra to catch timeless classical pieces in action. Another great night out would be supporting local acts in a play or musical via klpac or penangpac to unleash your inner John Travolta or Idina Menzel.

At Home
16. Keep fit at home
Build up your strength, flexibility and endurance to prevent falls and improve your overall wellbeing. Doing simple stretches and bodyweight exercises for just 30 minutes a day, several times a week, can make a difference. If you would like a more comprehensive and personalised workout session, consider home physiotherapy.

Out of Home
17. Join an exercise group
Working out in a group can boost motivation and make exercising all the more fun! Whether you are looking to sweat it out or simply wish to engage in light exercises, there is something for everyone. Check out online communities who go on hiking treks or join your neighbourhood tai chi group in the park.
18. Attend fitness classes
Build up your fitness with a certified trainer by signing up for regular workout classes. Make it a goal to try out as many forms of exercises as possible and find out what you like best! Do remember to inform the instructor of any past injuries. There are some facilities suited for seniors such as the first active ageing gym in Malaysia, Activ50s and Golden Age Senior Yoga.

Cause-related Activities

If you are looking to stay physically, mentally and socially active in the community, why not do it for a good cause? Here are some activities you can participate in while contributing back to society.

Out of Home
19. Start volunteering
Give back to society by volunteering for a cause you believe in. Besides helping others, volunteering is beneficial to ourselves too by helping us stay connected with society and giving us a sense of satisfaction and purpose. Stay up to date on the volunteering opportunities available by joining NGOs as listed in blogs like this and this.
20. Befriend fellow seniors
If you are looking for an activity that can make a direct impact on people's lives, consider being a befriender with Homage. Deliver care to seniors in a variety of settings while earning some extra allowance too.

With the multitude of senior-friendly activities available in our country, there is bound to be something for everyone. Pick an activity from this list and engage your loved ones in meaningful activities in this new year ahead.

If your senior loved ones need care, feel free to chat with our Care Advisor at (60) 16 2992188 to understand how we can help to provide care and assistance.

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20 Activities To Usher In 2020 For Seniors in Malaysia - Homage - MY

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As we get older, our social circles tend to become smaller. This leaves many seniors at risk of loneliness and social isolation, which can negatively impact their physical and mental health. In fact, 30% of the elderly population in Malaysia either live alone or with their elderly spouse (compared to 14.7% in 2004), according to the 2014 National Population and Development Board Survey.

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This research is inspired by the studies in Politecnico di Milano at the department of Architecture and Urban Studies about the evolution of... See More

This research is inspired by the studies in Politecnico di Milano at the department of Architecture and Urban Studies about the evolution of... See More

Connecting content to people.

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URBAN CO-LIVING [by Laura Vanazzi, July 2019]

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This research is inspired by the studies in Politecnico di Milano at the department of Architecture and Urban Studies about the evolution of dwellings practices and the need of new spaces, policies and processes, in the contemporary housing scene in Italy. What emerges is a widespread of co-living practices, which do not regard only Italy but the entire world.