T33 Research – thesis topic exploration.

Every meter counts.

I am fascinated by the adaptations that are shaping landscapes of the world and more locally, London. I would like to investigate the ways people occupy buildings, new and old alike.

My research in planning and urban design so far has been focused on the way poor people live in the city. When reading on the subject of slums I discovered an interesting typography, a pattern of ‘space grabbing’. This is now happening in densely populated conurbations of the world like India and San Paulo. Policies there are meant to eradicate bad living conditions, provide sanitation and social services to people, but also they aim in preventing illegal occupations. In third world squatting is an everyday accordance but even now in Europe and in London squatting happens. It is a well recognized and controlled phenomena. However there also is in existence and more subtle occurrence of infilling of urban fabric.

Property owners invent ingenious ways to seize every square metre of air and turn it into properly. They do it to have more storage, a safe place for their bike a bit more space in the kitchen. They do it in various ways from small crude shed like structures of a small footprint to a construction of planned and managed extensions. The first one is very interesting as it simply happens, it needn’t have permissions, it only requires an idea of the owner and a bit of physical labour for a day or two.

I walk London streets and I see small home interventions. Long streets of front and back extensions. Amazing selection of materials on all types on elevations. Balconies incorporated into the house fabric. What is the point to build a balcony in the first place than? Gardens shrunk to a space just enough to store garbage bun. Why would anyone need a private open space?

I think of the places i lived at. Always lacking space, always having too little storage, London is struggling and will continue to struggle for space. We architects / planners speak of beauty, proportion but it is practicality of living in a city that prevails. High density is inevitable. As good citizens of the capitalist society people acquire more items and as houses get smaller will the space grabbing eat away the city. We are far from catastrophic sensations of The City of Darkness, yet the tension is there. I feel it every day and, as it cannot be retained any more in some houses I see it on the streets of London.