Ideas, strategies and projects that give rise to pilot projects. They tackle the challenges raised by the stakeholders involved and which are found in particular places in Barcelona or Medellín.
The gender-free house
THE GENDER-NEUTRAL HOUSE
The home is the first place where we become socialised, making it also the place where gender—both male and female—develops. The space is not neutral but divided and hierarchical; it describes the relationships that we aspire to and which will influence the development and interactions of the people that inhabit it. The fact that the home should reflect an egalitarian lifestyle, without pecking order or inequality, with a special emphasis on gender equality, is expressed in a series of criteria.
The rooms must be similar in size and in the qualities of their lighting, exposure to the sun, ventilation and accessibility in order to prevent the establishment of privileges or a hierarchy among the home’s occupants and to facilitate changes in the usage of the indoor environment.
The shape and distribution of the kitchen must facilitate joint work and ensure that household chores are visible, in particular the preparation of food and cleaning.
Upmarket baths in ensuite rooms must be rejected outright: not only are they a wasteful extravagance and a sign of inequality in the home, but they are also immoral in a world in which half of humankind has no direct access to drinking water and basic sanitation. Consequently, bathtubs and bathrooms must be accessible to every occupant of the home and visitors and should be subdivided to enable various people to use them at the same time.
Spaces for dealing with laundry must be set aside and they must be visible and functional. In addition, outdoor areas should be made available for drying clothes.
Diverse storage spaces of sufficient quantity and quality are an essential attribute of the home, as envisioned by Alison and Peter Smithson in their Put-Away House.
The home should encourage sustainable living, meaning that it should not require large amounts of time, energy or money to look after it.
The home that has an internal structure without hierarchies not only teaches and fosters egalitarian life but is also better suited to various types of cohabitation units, which themselves change over time. In addition, the fact that the home has a structure that is as minimally hierarchical as possible makes it easier to place on the housing market when it has to be sold, rented or passed on to someone else.
Laboratory of the 21st-century Sustainable Home – Punt 6 Collective – Montaner Muxí arquitectes
PARTNER
Col·lectiu punt 6
ETSAB-UPC
Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona
