UKS (YAS) - Kunstnerbolig (Artist Housing), Hovinbyen, Oslo
Looking to create good living and working spaces for artists in Oslo, UKS (Young Artists' Society) in collaboration with the architectural firm Fragment have developed a plan for model artist housing in Hovinbyen, Oslo funded by the Ministry of Culture in Oslo Municipality with the participation of the Planning and Building Agency.
Selecting the site of Hovinbyen, Oslo first and foremost because of its available plots of land, and because there are already several projects involving artists underway there, the project has interest from the municipality's side which can be strengthened by such a development. Close enough to central Oslo, the lead architect believed it would be unrealistic to want a plot any closer to the city centre. The project is about participation - from the artists themselves, the neighbourhood and the municipality - with success pivoting on involvement from all three from the outset. The architect John Habraken's idea of 'support and infill ' is integrated in the project from initial conception, with the project adopting an open construction in wood with strategically placed shafts and access from a common stair tower via a passageway, Habraken believed that the future of mass development lay in greater participation and the possibility of change over time.
Architect Arild Eriksen at Fragment has been involved in developing the model that is now being shown. Together with UKS and a reference group of artists, a series of workshops have been carried out. Eriksen says:
UKS was behind the artist village Trolltun on Bøler from 1959, but since then nothing special has been built for artists here in the city. Due to the transformations in the center of Oslo, where artists can no longer afford to rent a studio or are evicted, and housing is becoming increasingly expensive, there is much to be said for looking at something new, he says.
The main purpose of the scheme is to create models for flexible residential buildings which enable both participation in planning and construction, and which have great flexibility. The models are not locked to a plot, are extremely flexible and made with a lot of pragmatism - the houses can be built, moved and changed. The intention is not for the artists to build their own homes but to facilitate the possibility of change over time.
A press release from UKS and Fragment claims that by reducing the costs of development and profit through the utilisation of a municipal attachment plot and a certain degree of self-effort, it will be possible to offer the apartments at 60% of the market price. Ericksen is willing to go a little further:
I think we should be able to halve the price, but that may be Bergen's modesty. The important thing is that Oslo Municipality must seize the opportunity, and for example can offer attachment plots with certain conditions. And that the municipality sees that we have a project that is both a response to their research on models such as public housing and the municipality's art policy ambitions.
The press release also receives encouragement from the chairman of the board of UKS, Ruben Steinum, who says that the municipality and the state must take responsibility for the future of art life:
With an average income of 89,000 a year from the artist work, it is clear that many artists struggle to find homes within their price range. Now Oslo is filled with huge museums at the water's edge, and it is time to ensure that those who create the content of the future in these buildings also have the opportunity to live and work here, he says.
Eriksen thinks artists are tired of being pieces in real estate development, with short leases to drive up an areas reputation, increasing the likelihood of gentrification, and believes it must be thought of long-term:
Long-term perspective is also the reason why we have developed so many homes. 44 homes are an entire housing association. And the artists do not want to be temporary pieces in ongoing development processes, so we develop rental housing with a long-term perspective.
UKS and Fragment aim for the model to be able to be used and inspire for the construction of artist homes elsewhere in the country and abroad.
LaLa Tøyen and Kåmmån, Helen & Hard and Haugen / Zohar Architects - Shared Housing Project Bopilot, Bergen, Norway
Part of a collaborative process from three architectural practices native to Norway, the shared housing project Bopilot scheme believes there is no solution to current housing needs, and that a range of different ways to live must be developed to provide the housing sector with its need for innovation.
Three architectural firms are involved in the project: LaLa Tøyen and Kåmmån, Helen & Hard and Haugen / Zohar architects. The first phase of the project is a design sprint, an interdisciplinary workshop with developers, architects and the target group, before the architectural practices work independently to explore ideas further. The findings are presented at an exhibition to the target group, municipality and public and are then compiled in a report to Bergen municipality.
The project's lead, Tina Larsen, has been working strategically with the municipally owned plot in central Bergen to explore what shared housing and new forms of housing can look like in Bergen, and how the municipality can become a major driver for the development of new types of housing:
We must convince the architectural staff and developers that there is a market out there. Then it will be easier to take the risk of not knowing if you can sell the homes. Now we can secure the market, there is something here, says Larsen.
Working in various ways, including through workshops arranged with a target group, architects and developers, key topics were identified and discussed to give three architectural offices place to begin their experimentations and solutions. Their presented work shows several aspects of shared housing, such as architectural design, plan and section; looking for extra square meters; and concrete input on how the municipalities should work.
Differing in angles of approach, LaLa Tøyen and Kåmmån proposed for the first house that can be built to serve as an input to what the dwellings can look like. The architects have each proposed transitioinal zones between the private and the shared as well as what entrances should look like and other detailed solutions.
By presenting these ideas in a diagrammatic and visual way, those who are not professionals - the target group, municipality etc - are able to gain an understanding of the spatial ideas at play which can be shared throughout the district and the city.
Haugen Zohar presented different approaches to the basement living area, with differing degrees of socialisation in the common area, and ideas of how it is possible to extract more square meters in accordance with local laws and regulations whilst Helen & Hard discussed the importance of the process which takes place before the sod cutting.
Randi Augenstein from Helen & Hard believes that:
The challenge does not lie in creating spatial solutions. The challenge is the process.
She wants to shed light on this in order to be able to change the current housing production process.
The project also addresses the need to think new in the value chain, with private initiatives such as wind farms introduced which would lower the profit of the builder but increase the value of the scheme for those living there and environmentally. With prior experience from their Grønneviken (Gaining by Sharing) scheme, Helen & Hard have proposed a new, concrete collaboration process that they wish to test in the Bopilot project. Augustine summarises:
Today, everyone sits on a pile without understanding each other's risk. The collaboration process is largely about all actors being heard, taking responsibility and risk
The project is 'food for the municipality', and for a collaborative approach: 'it is quite clear that one can not do it alone, here it must interact wisely'.
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