Pilot Project Rooted Living™ with Wonen Limburg
Rooted LivingTM
A New Living Concept
In the Netherlands, we find it perfectly normal to walk through the house with our shoes on. In many cultures, this is a no-go. Shoes are stored in a cabinet or left in the hallway. The average Dutch hallway hardly offers space for this. It's a small example, but illustrative. Studio Stad advocates for a more culturally inclusive approach to housing construction and introduces Rooted Living™.
A living concept that, within the framework of modular construction, provides space for multiple cultures and pays attention to diversity. The goal? To develop homes that fit residents like a glove, wherever their roots may lie. Rooted Living, home is here.
Construction Drawing
Living Space Drawing
Rooted Living TM
as transformation
Are small adjustments enough to enhance the feeling of home? Yes, for example, by planning a slightly wider hallway for a warm welcome and space for a bench to take off shoes. With our growing data set of everyday living situations from around the world, Studio Stad designs homes where people can quickly feel rooted. Design inspired from around the world for the whole world.
A house may be built, but it is not yet a home. A sense of home, the feeling of "belonging" or "rooting," depends on the ability to make a dwelling your own. In this example of transformation the central space is designed with various niches that provide the desired privacy, allow for social interaction with an open kitchen, efficiently utilize storage space, and are adaptable to be made your own.
Rooted Living™ can be applied for rapid transformation, industrialized new construction, and improve the sustainability of the existing housing stock. Thanks to smart building modules, it is possible to achieve high spatial quality within the available floor area using sustainable building materials.
Type Transformation - Rooted Living™
34% of Dutch first-time homebuyers have a migration background.
Dutch first-time buyers also benefit from Rooted Living™, as they are already more diverse in background than the Dutch average population. The desire for homes with more culturally inclusive spaces is only increasing in our global economy. So with Rooted Living™, we serve the growing demographics of the international community.
2021
2050
Dutch First-Time homebuyers with a
migration background
Demographic transition from biological to social continuity
What if there's a party?
Technically, our homes are more comfortable than ever before, but their usage often remains quite rigid. Can we host a spontaneous celebration? And is there enough space in the kitchen to cook for everyone? We looked around the world, collected and analysed 3D scans of private living situations and found the answers.
Module
Feastkitchen
"Frankfurt Kitchen" with Andy Warhol's dance steps
Building the Right Homes
Our cities are growing. So fast that we can barely keep up. Ensuring enough housing is a top priority everywhere. But looking to the future, are we building the right homes? By 2050, half of all first-time homebuyers in the Netherlands will have a migration background. Will they feel at home in the houses we're building now? Studio Stad thinks we can do better. That we must do better if we want to be an inclusive society. We design homes for the generations of tomorrow.
Growing data set of international housing cultures
Together with GebäudeLehre of the RWTH Aachen, we have built an online platform that stores more than 200 modules from 50 countries. Using the latest 3D scanning technology, we have created a special data set to supplement the technical libraries for piping and construction in the existing design software. The catalog is a colorful source of successful, customized building elements with lighting, materials, and a whole new world of references with which we can further improve the Dutch dwelling.
Highporch, Willemstad, Curaçao
Interpersonal scale
Innovation in dwelling comes from small adjustments to the existing. For example, enough space for an embrace upon arrival, or stairs wide enough to walk and sometimes deep enough to sit. Storage is more efficient as an integral part of the architecture rather than just as furniture. While the Building Code dictates human dimensions, adding strategic extra centimeters can foster interaction, enhancing the cultural dimension of Living.
3dscan skife, Damascus
Module
Skife
3D scan stairs, Haskova
Module
Socialstairs
From knowledge to architecture
Years of scientific research into international housing needs has provided Studio Stad with extensive knowledge. We translate this knowledge into architecture. We advise governments, housing corporations, and developers, and make concrete proposals for housing construction that better aligns with the target groups of tomorrow, while being feasible within the Dutch construction system. We not only provide models for newly built homes but also elements to adapt the existing housing stock.
Rooted Living™ as new construction
Recognizing a living culture requires study and experience. It's not called the hidden dimension for nothing. Moreover, it's about everyday scenes, but when you discover it, like this sink in the hallway, it impacts the entire home. A sink in the hallway is actually quite handy.
3D Scan, Hallway sink, Dhara
Type New construction with CLT - Rooted Living™
Rooted Living™ and sustainability
With a world of knowledge, it turns out that the hallway of a post-war home also offers space for new needs: a home workspace, a play area, or even space for a bathroom to split the home.
Module
Welcome
Type Sustainability - Rooted Living™
Pilot project with Wonen Limburg
Construction of the Netherlands' first culturally inclusive home will begin soon. In a former office building, Studio Stad has designed 34 Living™ units for Wonen Limburg for the international participants of the Jan van Eyck Academie and 34 Living™ units for students. With sustainably built elements, each home has space for a celebration.
We are Studio Stad
Bruges
Venice
Berlin
São Paulo
Oslo
Tokyo
Surabaja
Los Angeles
In a time when the focus is constantly on housing shortages, we put the concept of 'housing quality' on the table. We do this from our profession as architects and researchers, but also from our personal experience with emigration and putting down roots in a new place. Studio Stad is formed by Rebekka Straetmans and Tim Prins. We both lived for extended periods in various places around the world. From the Netherlands and Germany to Norway, China, and the USA. Our experiences led to an in-depth study of international housing needs. With the most important outcome being that these are far from universal.
De Brandweer, from fire station to cultural hotspotfor the municipality of Maastricht
Masterhome, transformation from school to home for de Masters
New building material for the gateway to the Land van Kalk for IBA Parkstad en municipalities Voerendaal, Heerlen and Simpelveld
Victor de Stuers Award 2015 for the transformation of de Brandweer
Modular interior for Merian Art & Science Lab
for the University Maastricht, University College Maastricht, University Zuyd en Jan van Eyck Academie