live house
goal
Live House was a group project done at RMIT University. It explored possible designs for flexible community centers to be used by residents of the Carlton Housing Estate; a poor but culturally diverse area of Melbourne with a richness of community initiatives. The intrinsic motivation was to bring residents from various cultures closer together. Even more so than the immediate results, the project was about establishing intense and equal-level cooperation with community residents, giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility over the project and its results. Most of the work took place on site with the residents around.
outcome
One part of the project was to explore possible low-cost and feasible modifications to a shipping container such that it could facilitate various community activities such as dancing performances and food festivities. I proposed a flexible furniture system consisting of lightweight, foldable, interlocking benches and tables that can be hooked onto rails on the shipping container.
On the other hand I explored a more radical concept of what a flexible community center could look like. One of my ideas proposes two opposing units with a grid of drawers that can be pulled out. Configuring this Live House becomes a playful group activity.
Next to work on a conceptual level, an actual shipping container was modified to function as a pilot to inform later implementations of the project.
