FLEX - Flexible Dwellings for Extended Living

该项目展望了我们家园的未来，并探索了改造我们的住宅以应对21世纪生活压力的潜力——人口老龄化、家庭日益原子化、昂贵的住房、环境目标、螺旋式上升的能源成本以及社会孤立的风险。这些挑战为研究团体、实践团体和居住者之间的合作提供了机会，他们希望探索可配置的空间、灵活的材料、绿色生活和无处不在的媒体。为了利用这种能量，我们探索了私人和公共生活的界限，包括纽卡斯尔和邓迪社区的共同设计研讨会，重点关注社区如何更社会化地居住，以更好地服务于友谊，资源共享和社会弹性。我们的目标人群是40到60岁的人，他们即将退休，我们要确定他们的兴趣和价值观，并评估改造一代房屋如何能增加社交性。我们将为建筑师、设计师、规划师和材料专家举办一个专业研讨会，讨论在不同生活阶段装修住宅的创新，使公共生活更有可能。本次活动后准备的材料和学习成果将在纽卡斯尔和邓迪的社区研讨会上使用，以刺激未来住宅的合作设计。通过这项工作，我们将探索可接受性和可负担性的界限，当地的优先事项是什么，以及在苏格兰和英格兰的普通家庭中，创新可以想象到多远。通过这个过程，我们将了解苏格兰和英格兰的家庭欢迎什么，以及让家庭参与这些变化的方法。该项目的发现将被记录在博客中，使用视频，并在两个选定区域的展览中展示。来自这些来源的反馈将用于最终评估如何可能和理想地改造现有住宅，以适应更具社会弹性和支持性的生活方式。

This project looks into the future of our homes and explores the potential for adapting our dwellings to deal with the pressures of 21st century living - an ageing population, increasing atomization of the family, expensive housing, environmental targets, spiralling energy costs, and the risk of social isolation. These challenges suggest opportunities for collaboration between communities of research, practice and occupants who wish to explore configurable spaces, flexible materials, green living, and pervasive media. To harness this energy, we explore the boundaries of private and public living, involving the communities of Newcastle and Dundee in co-design workshops that focus on how communities might dwell more socially to better serve companionship, resource sharing and social resilience. We target people in their 40s to 60s, for whom retirement is on its way, to identify their interests and values and assess how retro-fitting a generation of homes could work to increase sociality.We will run a specialist workshop for architects, designers, planners and materials experts to discuss the innovations that are possible in fitting up homes for different life stages and making communal living more possible. Materials prepared following this event and incorporating the learning will be used in community workshops in Newcastle and Dundee, to be stimulus for collaborative designing of future homes. Through this work we will explore the boundaries of acceptability and affordability, what local priorities would be and how far innovations can be imagined working in ordinary homes in Scotland and England. Through this process, we will come to learn both what would be welcomed in households in Scotland and England, and also some insight into methods of engaging households in making such changes.The project discoveries will be captured in a blog, using video, and presented in an exhibition mounted in the two chosen areas. Feedback from these sources will go into the final evaluation of what is possible and desirable in modifying existing homes to accommodate a more socially resilient and supportive lifestyle.