The final instalment of our Dezeen x Mini Living video series features a proposal by Bartlett graduate Lianjie Wu for affordable homes that are left unfinished, for residents to complete themselves.
Wu's project, called Beyond the Shell, reimagines the traditional high-rise tower as a modular, multi-storey estate, with public and private spaces of different sizes stacked on top of each other.
Beyond the Shell, reimagines the traditional high-rise tower as a modular, multi-storey estate
She imagine homes being completed up to the point where they fulfil the minimum requirements for habitation. Buyers then take ownership of the structures and adapt them to suit their needs and tastes.
"The unfinished shell helps to ad­dress the issue of over-finished but unaffordable housing supply," the designer told Dezeen. "It provides a strategy to take advantage of residents' labor to cut down the construction cost as a way to lower the price." Buyers take ownership of homes before they are complete and finish themselves
Wu completed the project in her final year at The Bartlett School of Architecture, as part of Unit 19, which places a particular focus on the relationship between architecture and the construction industry.
The starting point for the scheme was a challenge set by architecture competition organisers Bee Breeders, which asked for creative solutions to the issues surrounding low-cost housing in London.
Residents would be provided with instructions on h...