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DOMESTICITY
2021 | Urban Interiority | Melbourne
//DomestiCITY is a proposed urban interiority that is an extension of the home. Aiming to enhance three critical qualities of the domestic realm, namely - familiarity or a feeling of being at home, culture and play - that we believe in adding these values to the lives of the urban population and encourage more people to interact with the city in a post COVID world.//
The pandemic has changed our routine way of life, introducing new and complicated rules that need to be followed. It has been the cause for many individuals to feel increasingly isolated and apprehensive about the changes that the pandemic may have caused. For many, these anxieties may naturally ease over time; however, this may not be the case for all, and it may take time and support for others to return to normal. Some may even feel fearful of socialising and even becoming overwhelmed and, therefore, would feel far more comfortable at home.
To encourage individuals to come back to the City of Melbourne, we must find ways to slowly ease individuals back into how things were before the pandemic. To allow for a smoother transition back into “normal,” we need to bring the familiarity of our homes, which turned into safe havens during the lockdowns, into the urban context to mitigate anxiety and reduce stress for individuals. This will make people feel more at ease in urban environments and public settings, allowing them to take smaller and more manageable steps into COVID-19 normal.
DomestiCITY employs wayfinding strategies to promote ease of anchoring, familiarity and a sense of orientation across the city. Since the chosen sites function as ‘rooms’ within the urban environment, the connecting urban fabric such as streets and laneways become ‘corridors’ connecting these rooms to one another and allowing individuals to journey through the rooms. The anchor points are marked by unexpected domestic objects and elements in the form of installations or found object sculptures that evoke a domestic feeling within the urban context.
These interventions can impact people’s behaviour in the urban and produce a new interiority within the city. These anchor points would also spark curiosity and invite further exploration of the immediate surroundings and the city at large. We want to create a situation where people come together to socialize and generate new interactions. Objects and materials that are normally interiorized, when brought outside, can help create a sense of enclosure and proximity; people may move closer to one another, and these objects or materials displaced from their typical interior settings influence relationships and the spaces between people with how they may interact and view the space.
Following Suzie Attiwill’s provocation, the repurposed interior object, ‘invites other possibilities for thinking and designing interiors – and the practice of interior design – and brings the sensibility and techniques of interior design to the urban environment.’ In this context then, these design activations operate by introducing domestic material objects and artefacts into the urban field of perception in order to extend the private realm into the city and, ultimately to occupy space differently.
Wayfinding mapping
Punch Lane is an irregular lane as it began as a pedestrian-only access route on an upward slope, opens into a cul-de-sac court, and finish es with both sidewalk and a sideway. This area features an array of wine bars, cafes, and low-rise residential. Rear 53/57 Lonsdale street has been chosen as a ‘backyard’ site location. A tree located in the middle with public seating, the only greenery with listless colours and materials in the surrounding area, such as grey concrete or bluestone paving. Punch Lane is the shortcut from little Bourke Street towards Lonsdale Street.
Punch Lane, Melbourne CBD - Site Photo
When creating different areas in a backyard, subtle clues should be given that define each space. Using the different materials such as grass, bluestone, and wood pallets placed in 4 different levels such as rooftop, decking, ground, and slope creates a completed vertical circulation and divides the area into sections. These design ideas are used to designate outdoor “rooms” without inhibiting the overall flow and unity of the yard.
Conceptual Diagram
Therefore, choose a combination of a few common materials and objects of the house such as cushions, wood, and gardens into the design to create the atmosphere of the backyard. Despite the site being slightly larger than expected, it fits the design concept overall. Creating a threshold for people to slowly immerse into the home atmosphere, having space for families and friends to gather, especially some private space for kids which is necessary for each individual family with newborn babies. This ‘Domesticity’ is to bring people back to the city, a sense of belonging which involves friends and families.
This design proposal isn’t aiming to bring a house back to the city, but bringing ‘home’ back to the city, a place people can feel a sense of family and friends.
Domesticity
Creating extensions of the home at various spots within the city would be instrumental in refamiliarizing people with the city.
The backyard consists of several activities such as a playscape, gardening, gathering, etc. Based on in-depth research of backyard content, materials, and textile to emphasize the homey sense, selected outdoor furniture suits the backyard atmosphere, finished with lighting to ensure warmth and welcoming. To achieve the design outcome, chosen the common-use wood pallet as a design component as it is a flexible, low-cost material and one of the sustainable materials for stacking and combining temporarily.
Design Drawing
Overall, create a place for people to enjoy comfort, where they can put down their worries and seek the childhood of their hearts. Besides, we hope this ‘backyard’ space and the designated program will enhance the relationship between people, families, and friends with nature and traverse the boundaries of urban life and break down barriers between individuals. A greater connectivity with the society to attract more people’s back to the city, a comfortable and familiar area yet not a fast-paced city where people are unwilling to stay longer.
Presentation Board