Kaitiakitanga: homegrown resilience

Moving on to the second project, Kaitiakitanga has more restrictions than Puna and poses some interesting possibilities.

One of the most important factors is the limited space we have. Only 400m² for a potential family house will require innovative ideas. One of my first responses to the size is the concept of the capsule hotel. I believe that this one successfully portrays how a small space can be used to its maximum potential. 

In class today we analysed the spaces inside a given floor plan and then, in groups we compared the arrangement of the spaces through different architectural periods. Under the categories of purpose, privacy, inside/outside, wet/dry, fluidity and noise we discovered than generally the older designs separated the the opposite areas. For example, one end of the house would have all the leisure areas and the private spaces (bedrooms etc) would be on the opposite end. In the contemporary floor plans however, there was a greater sense of integration. It may also be relevant to note that the older plans would have had greater restrictions such as the old fashioned standard window size, which interferes with an inside/outside flow found in the modern designs. More often the modern houses had two floors and the older ones were only single storey.