Designing Multigenerational Dwelling: A Workshop with Four Flemish Architecture Firms

Due to social shifts, demographic changes and spatial challenges, housing is at the top of the social agenda in Flanders. Recently, communal housing concepts are being put forward to strive against these general developments. This paper presents research on multigenerational dwelling, as one possible renewed communal housing concept for Flanders. The authors develop a working definition for multigenerational dwelling, which lays the foundation for the main part of the paper: the translation of a theoretical framework into architectural design. Methodologically the authors use the method of research by design to experiment with this new housing concept in a specific, but realistic setting. More specifically, they organized a workshop with four Flemish architecture firms to investigate different modes of sharing space within a multigenerational dwelling. Furthermore they formulate key considerations for further research and the implementation of this renewed way of dwelling in Flanders.

Keywords: multigenerational dwelling; design; modes of sharing; Flanders