The 3-Families House is a co-housing community in the rapidly developing city of Shaoxing, China.
The 3-Families House is a co-housing community in the rapidly developing city of Shaoxing, China.
3-Families House
Co-living housing with a neighborhood Daycare Center
Shaoxing, China
6,000 square feet
Schematic Design, 2012 - current
Lap Chi Kwong, Alison Von Glinow
Domus China, Issue 62, March 2012
The 3-Families House explores the model of a co-living community for three families as an alternative to mid-rise apartment blocks more commonly used in dense areas of the rapidly developing city of Shaoxing, China.
A distinct gable roof brings together the three families single articulated volume, that responds to Shaoxing’s historic urban fabric. The architectural language of the project seeks to transform housing into “an everything architecture”: landscapes, seasons, buildings, materials, etc. The structure accommodates a diversity of programs and a multitude of inhabitants within a single form.
The house is comprised of three distinct layers of program: a neighborhood daycare center on the ground floor; a communal dining area with individual vegetable gardens and private kitchens for each family on the second level; and, bedrooms for each family on the third level. A large horizontal opening along the long side of the house gives expansive views of the surrounding neighborhood roofscape. On this level, communal areas for dining and gardening bring the individual families together, while smaller dining and relaxation areas that are sectionally lower from the communal area create private nooks for each family. The bedrooms - a series of distinct smaller volumes for each occupant to call their own - receive light from the central atrium of the split gable roof and overlook the communal shared level below.
With a traditional gable roof that splits in two, the house forms a dialogue with the surrounding complex urban roofscape.
Surrounded by a dense field of small single family homes, the split gable roof holds housing for three individual families and a neighborhood daycare center.
The section dynamically changes to uniquely accommodate the three families - creating both communal areas and private spaces.
The house is comprised of three distinct layers of program: a daycare on the ground floor; a communal dining area with private kitchens on the second level; and, each of the family’s bedrooms on level three.
A large horizontal opening along the long side of the house gives expansive views of the surrounding neighborhood roofscape.
On the ground level, the 3-Families House provides an public outdoor space for the neighborhood underneath its large cantilever in addition to a community daycare center.
Level 2 holds shared communal spaces for the three families: a communal dining table, urban gardens, and relaxation nooks, in addition to private kitchens for each family.
Shifting bedrooms on the third floor separate the three living units from each other. A central light-filled atrium bring light and air to each of the bedrooms and views down to the community area below.
The structure accommodates a diversity of programs and inhabitants within a single form.
The split gable roof atrium sectionally connections the private bedroom suites of Level 3 with the communal areas of Level 2.