ADAPTIVE P/RE-USE

Beyond Property – Alternative Practices for Equitable & Sustainable City Housing

The Adaptive P/Re-use – Beyond Property studio is framed by two main sets of questions. First, under the notion of Adaptive P/Re-use, we explore how housing can be designed and build based on the concept of re-use, where recirculation and repurposing of materials, existing buildings, social structures, and environmental settings are a given necessity. And how can we conceive, design, and build housing based on the premise of pre-use, where future adaptation, transformation, reassembly, disassembly, as well as social and environmental change are an integral part of design considerations? Second, with the proposition of Beyond Property we investigate how alternative forms of property and ownership could give rise to a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable way of housing delivery. How can we use ownership models inspired by collective, shared, indigenous, subscription-based, temporary, community-led, non-hierarchical, nomadic, squatter-friendly, extragenerational, participatory forms of property to inform our design proposals? To test and integrate the developed ideas, the studio’s main context of reference is Koreatown, Los Angeles’ densest populated neighborhood, which not only features a diversity of culture, people and typologies, but also of common challenges such as a lack of adequate and affordable housing, public spaces, and other urban services.