The project started with a simple question: How do we design a house that will last a hundred years or more, and accommodate multiple generations of family members to grow up and grow old together"
Full House is a multi-generational housing typology developed for a Vancouver site. While this particular project is a contextual response to the economic, social and urban conditions of this specific place, urban centres across Canada are experiencing skyrocketing real estate prices and, consequently, a general increase in the number of adult children living with their parents. In Vancouver, the average selling price has now surpassed $1,800,000 for a detached house, $850,000 for a townhome and $650,000 for a condo unit. As a result, multi-generational living is the only viable home-ownership option for many families. The project is conceived as a five-bedroom home with a detached one-bedroom laneway dwelling. The home is reconfigurable to operate across a variety of traditional program scenarios through the orientation of a pivot door ?inspired by the famous 1927 photograph of Marcel Duchamp?s door at his studio at 11, rue Larrey in Paris. The device is a pivoting steel plate partition that can occupy three possible positions; adjusting the position of the door alters the architectural programming of the suites in the house.
The life of the house is understood as existing at any point in time through three scenarios that allow flexibility, facilitated by the operation of t...