Pierre Bottriaux

21st century cities are facing several challenges such as densification, a lack of space, smaller dwellings, the digital revolution, and 24-hour mobility. In London, 26% of sharers don’t have a living room. As a result, this historically rich place of socialisation within the home is slowly disappearing. This project aims to provide a new domestic proposal for urban environments. 

Third places -such as bars and restaurants- keep us socialising but have also left city-dwellers with a lack of flexibility in regard to the way they inhabit cities. However, this segregation of these activities of the home offers a new and economically viable service-based model for housing. At a time where online shopping is booming, the ever-increasing number of empty retail spaces on high streets represents a good opportunity for creative monetisation. During their temporarily empty period, the retail spaces will host urban living rooms where users -customers- will be charged for access.  An app will offer the customers the ability to find the locations available, compare, pay, invite friends, share the costs, ... Thanks to a modular and flexible kit of parts, the living rooms will be able to populate empty spaces size or shape, anywhere in the city. This will create a dynamic network across London.  The kit is composed of four main categories of elements: The pillars (1) – or “totems” represent the heights of the 6 ergonomic levels used, and are connected to any number of planar surfaces (2). The pieces of “armiture” (3) are added to the pillar to create identity and personality within the space. If the building hosts more than one living room, the envelope (4) can be used to separate and sound insulate two or more living rooms from each other. 

#yourlivingroomisback