A room of one’s own – Make room for your inner needs

Master’s Degree Project 2023

Imagine visiting a housing exhibition so radical and so ground-breaking that it will influence urban planning and housing standards for an entire nation. During the Stockholm Exhibition 1930, around four million people got to experience just that when the ideas of functionalism were presented to the public. The new, modern style ideal sparked great public debate and opinions were divided. The proponents of functionalism argued that we must break free from the past and must “accept" the new.

One of the advocates of the new modernist ideals was Sven Markelius who a few years later presented “Hem I Kollektivhus”, a new domestic concept for the Swedish family inspired by Alva Myrdahls’ socio-political ideas. The proposal was a multi-family house with a shared kitchen, a communal children's department, and other collective functions with the aim of getting the woman out to work instead of being stuck in the kitchen with household chores.

Inspired by the ideas of collective functions as a response to current housing and social issues, the question arises of how we could approach the same thinking in today’s socie­ty. The study explores the Swedish housing model and what role housing exhibitions have had on Swedish housing architecture.

This thesis proposes a new Swedish housing concept that explores private and collective functions in domestic life and how it fulfils the personal need for space. The proposal includes a double sided, rotating wall as a new tectonic component in the Swedish domestic environment. The rotating walls in the unit can be opened and closed on our own premises and provide more space for our personal needs. The possibility of opening and closing rooms with a more periodized system creates new spatial connections Either as an expansion of the unit, or a room of one's own isolated from the dwelling. The room of one’s own can function as a home office, a painting workshop, a music studio, or a room for medita­tion and poetry. What space do you need in your Swedish domesticity?

Studio 11: Radical Domesticities – Swedish Standards
Studio teachers: Daniel Movilla Vega (Studio coordinator), Mette Harder

Anton Magnusson

Architecture Programme, Studio 11
Drawing by student Image:Anton Magnusson

The rotating walls can be opened or closed and create either an expansion of the unit, or a room of one's own isolated from the dwelling.

Drawing by student Image:Anton Magnusson

The strict and repetitive façade reflects the bookshelf structure of the building.

Drawing by student Image:Anton Magnusson

Additional volumes such as balconies and bay windows are placed as extensions from the vertical grid structure.

Collage of photos by student Image:Anton Magnusson

“The wall of consent” shows the tectonic detail of how the wall can be opened or closed on your own premises.

Drawing by student Image:Anton Magnusson

The room to the left is integrated with the adjacent unit while the room to the right is completely isolated from other dwelling functions.

Drawing by student Image:Anton Magnusson

What space do you need in your domesticity?