BEYOND TRADITIONAL TIES: Affordable, Flexible, and Inclusive Dwelling Arrangements for a Multitude of Familial Setups

Beyond Traditional Ties focuses on how social setups beyond the nuclear family can foster innovative forms of ownership and living frameworks to move beyond conventional family housing. Drawing from traditions of communal living examples such as the Chinese Tulou, Sumatra’s long houses, or the Shabonos of South America, it proposes a design strategy that can deliver a greater variety of dwellings for both traditional an chosen families. Within the dense and multicultural neighborhood of LA’s Koreatown, Beyond Traditional Ties therefore redefines the omnipresent normative typology of the stucco box to offer more diverse spatial setups and stimulate the potential of prevalently underutilized collective spaces and courtyards. Rather than demolition or simple renovation, the project seeks to revitalize these buildings into flexible co-living spaces, offering room for diverse familial setups, creating useful shared spaces outside of their dwelling units and thus supporting living arrangements within and beyond traditional ties.