Staying Out At Home

Staying Out At Home is a housing design project that critically reflects the living situation during the design exercise: Lockdown during the 2020 winter. As people suffering from isolation, loneliness, and high mental stress, the project aimed to create a comfortable and versatile domestic environment incorporating indoor and outdoor spaces.

The project is located in Roomtuintjes in Amsterdam, a social housing complex built in the 1970s. To host the increasing population in the international city, intensifying the block became a prioritized goal. However, to prevent complete gentrification and environmental impact in the city, the structure of the building is reused with two extra stories added on top. Additionally, a long, thin glazed sound buffer wall is added on the eastern side of the building, which also functions as galleries ( galerijen). The added glazed structure is a multi-purposed outdoor space that expanded the go-home route and the territory of homes connected with a small front yard. Such an approach gives the residents extra domestic space and elevates their mental health.