Page 3 - AIT1221_Livability

SERIEN STUDIERENDE ENTWERFEN ... • STUDENTS DESIGN ...

Mit viel Raum und Kontrasten zwischen Wand- und Bodenflächen sind die Bäder behindertengerecht gedacht. • With lots of space between the wall- and the floor areas, the bathrooms are designed to be handicapped accessible.

I n my master thesis at the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences and flat is to be the flat-sharing room where the residents are able to gather for time
Arts, my design is focused on the LVR-Wohnverbund Thomas-von-Aquin-Weg in
spent together. The request for a room where one can play football is the subject
Duisburg. This is where people with mental and multiple disabilities of various de- here. The carpet flooring shows a football pitch and the entrance can be used as a
grees are living. As residential units, four shared flats intended for four to eight goal. Since space is needed for playing football, the objective was to keep the fur-
people and single apartments are being offered as well as double apartments. Whe- niture flexible. That is why there is a folding table which, when folded up, is a
reas, after having moved in here, the male and female residents are currently living mural, and there are chairs which can be hung up in the hallway. A picnic table can
in the same room for all of their lives, in this design moving within the same buil- also be brought in from the hallway. When the wide door is open, the flat-sharing
ding is to be established as the concept. During the various phases of life, corre- community rooms and the hallway form a unit. The heart of the flat-sharing com-
sponding requirements regarding the residential setting definitely exist. Through the munity room is the “tree house”. The latter not only conceals the awkward archi-
possibility of moving during one’s lifetime, it becomes possible for the flats to react tecture of the room but also turns into a very special place. The tree house has its
to these changing needs and to adapt the residential unit to the specific group ac- very own character since it is accessed by climbing. It may serve as an observation
cordingly. Professor Dorothea Schutsch and Professor Rütt Schultz-Matthiesen su- post; by closing the curtains, it can also become a cave where one is successfully
pervised the master thesis. able to forget the outside world. There is room for two people up here. Stars are
milled into the wooden ceiling which are back-lit and represent a starry sky. The
“Colour puzzle” as the basis of the design light of these stars can be even altered as to their colourfulness. Thanks to the small
dimensions of this space, one is downright able to completely immerse oneself in
The design is focussed on a flat-sharing community for four young people who are this colour. Out of the tree house develops a high seating bench which also serves
not restricted in their motor skills. For them, rooms are designed which are inten- as a backrest whenever one decides to sit of on the floor. In front of the bench are
ded to challenge and promote them. The starting point for the design is the colour “upholstered spheres” which are half covered in red and half in blue fabric. They
concept which has been developed by joint experimenting with the residents: After can be turned so that their colour changes. When sitting down or getting up, the
playing a “colour puzzle” with a selection of 126 shades together, individual “colour spheres also move. The element of upholstery is again found in the form of wall
pictures” resulted for the private rooms and a shared “colour picture” for the com- cushions in the room. Based on this design, the Livability furniture series has origi-
munity area. The colours were individually chosen – based on plenty of deliberation nated which was presented in its own catalogue. These items of furniture take in-
or pure intuition. In the hallway, a red wall extends through the room, at a curve, dividual restrictions into consideration but do not put them in the foreground yet
one arrives at an inviting seating niche. This turns into a place of encounter in the are meant to arouse curiosity to try out something new and to challenge oneself. It
flat. A large red door marks the entrance to the community room. The hub of the is thus always possible to challenge and promote the users.

046 • AIT 12.2021