CASE, Community Architects for Shelter and Environment (formed in 1996) is a group of Thai architects inter- ested in alternate housing visions, the relationship between dwelling and con- text and both the physical environment and the hu- man element of the place. TEN OSAKA In 1999 CASE Japan was formed. Both groups are linked by conceptual collabo- ration, as well as informal exchanges of information and ideas. CASE Japan’s first systematic cooperative housing project is called TEN Osaka — ten separate housing units on the same plot of land for ten work- ing class families whose choice of housing have always been restricted to tiny generic apartments. Each of these working class families is unique, some with many children, some with elderly members. They all work in different places in different time frames. CASE Japan wanted a housing project where each unit would employ similar architectural as well as structural and constructional logic, yet be particular enough to respond to vary- ing requirements of its inhabitants. They involved the clients in the design process to the extent that each dwelling unit is an expression of a particular way of life. Not only were the inhabitants of each unit involved in the design of their own home, they also had to cooperate with their pro- spective neighbours. All TEN inhabitants gradually became the co-designers of their housing project. They could choose their adjacent neighbors according to similarities and differences in living conditions. They decided what to share and what not to share. In many ways, during the design process, they expressed their senses of individuality, while shaping the community. The result is a housing project that can be seen as both ‘one’ unified unit and ‘ten’ separate quarters. All the units are connected by either a courtyard
TEN | the dialectic between com- munal and individual dwelling tonkao panin
10
on |site 13
housing | houses | house
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator