Home Alone, Together

For ARCH 553: Three-in-one and One-for-all - Grant Gibson & Penelope Dean

Program: Multi-Unit Residential

Size: 25' x 125' x 27'

Floor Area: 2,000 sf.

Home Alone, Together is a multi-unit residential co-living project that gives agency to its co-residents to control their presence with one another and interact on their own terms.

(blue: private spaces, green: semi-public space, red: public space)

Each of three units is separated into three zones of privacy: private space, semi-public space, and public space. These zones are defined by how directly residents can see and hear one another while in these zones. The most private spaces are the bedrooms and bathrooms, in which residents cannot see or hear one another between units. In the semi-public living rooms and home office areas, residents can be seen and heard only indirectly. The most public zone contains the kitchen and dining areas, in which residents can see and hear each other directly. As such, residents at home can choose to be alone, alone together, or together according to their desired privacy and activity.

All three units enter the building through the south facade into an intermediary space within the private home from which they can choose which zone to move into. This creates the effect of entering a private home and discovering it to be a house within a house as one moves through the space. As a collection of houses within a house, each unit shares the collective airspace under a clerestory roof, thus sharing light and sound.

This project is located in Humboldt Park on a quiet, residential street, sandwiched between two taller cinder block buildings. With fencing around the lot perimeter and trees in the front yard, the house is lightly obscured from its surroundings, extending the strategy of comfortable privacy outwards. The back yard is separated into a tripartite organization divided by exterior counters and walls, with one area for each unit.

Additional Design Development Work