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Abstract

This work aims to research the connection between cohousing architecture and interiority. For this purpose, the analyses are structured in two phases. The first consists of the characterisation and identification of underlying typologies of European cohousing projects in the last three decades, 1981–2022. The second phase consists of the connection between the interiority concepts (in terms of planimetry, typology, spatial syntax, and interior spaces) and the cohousing architecture in the case studies selected from the first phase, which made it possible to compare cohousing projects and propose future strategies. The research identifies a typology with two clusters of cohousing projects of greater/lesser age and scale. The comparative analysis of the two selected projects, Malta Cohousing (Helsinki) and Schönholzer Strasse (Berlin), provides architectural proposals for compacting the shared and distributed interior spaces on the second floor of the projects, thus making them more usable and finding the points of greatest visibility at the perimeters or in the centre of the interior floor layouts. These proposals could reveal various possibilities for the design of spaces in terms of dynamic forms of the body-space relationships that characterise them and contribute to their improvement and the understanding of the functioning of the occupation and use of the different spaces, whether individual, collective, public, or private. These results fill the existing gap in the literature in terms of a better understanding and analysis of the connection between cohousing architecture and the concept of interiority while also contributing to stakeholders and policymakers in future decision-making.

Publication Date

1-29-2024

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Submitted Date

2024-03-20

Accepted Date

2023-12-09

First Page

79

Last Page

100

Authors' Bio

Virginia De Jorge-Huertas
virginia.dejorge@urjc.es
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8698-245X

Virginia De Jorge-Huertas is an assistant professor at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid. She obtained a PhD in Architecture from the University of Alcalá (ETSA - UAH). She has experience as a visiting researcher at the Architectural Association of London and a postdoctoral researcher at Università Iuav di Venezia. She has published in different architecture journals such as Nexus Network Journal, Spatium, Frontiers of Architectural Research, and TECHNE: Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, among others.

Justo De Jorge-Moreno
justo.dejorge@uah.es
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8326-3046

Justo De Jorge-Moreno is an associate professor in the Department of Economics and Business at Universidad de Alcalá. He has worked as a project engineer in public and private companies. He has published in different fields of economics and architecture.

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