Transformation as a type: seeking a flexible housing type for the 21st century

Rapid social and technological change have largely influenced the way in which individuals and families inhabit their dwellings, leading to new functional and formal lifestyle demands within the domestic realm. “The current information society is more closely linked to time than space. Its networks produce systems that are discontinuous in space but continuous in time…the most consistent systems are those capable of distributing their activities homogeneously in time, thus avoiding the generation of another parallel space…specifically for one concrete use.” (Guallart, 2004, p.25) In a time where change and transformation are omnipresent and highly influential, how can we design habitats that respond directly to the changing social order, by transforming into the appropriate space which supports the changing occupants, activities, and functions of a home? This thesis proposes a flexible housing typology, which has the ability to transform and adapt to socio-cultural and technological changes over time.