James Gledhill

CoHousing.Edu

The focus of the semester was to investigate the act of dwelling in the 21^st century given the environmental and social difficulties that are present, and to produce an architectural response that meets the needs outlined through our research. CoHousing.Edu is a co-housing development situated in West Melbourne and is designed to accommodate staff and students of the nearby academic institutions, namely The University of Melbourne. CoHousing.Edu responds to the difficulties we face today on a conceptual level as it puts forward the idea that the way societal and global issues is through the pursuit and dispersal of knowledge through education. As such the intention is for the project to act as a knowledge hub in the West Melbourne community with engaging spaces that will attract both academics and curious individuals not in institutionalised academia. This is done through the inclusion of spaces such as a Digital Library, a 21^st century response to the traditional format, that aims to create a more engaging learning experience for the modern individual. The design takes on a terraced form to respond to both the site context and to create dynamic internal spaces for the residents and surrounding community.