Millennials are predicted to not be needing to buy a house anymore. Millennials are predicted to prefer renting to buying, for many reasons: cost-efficiency (not having to put down a huge upfront investment), flexibility (able to move places anytime), and sustainability as well. Not to forget, millennials also enjoy spending a big chunk of their time outdoors.
The above points are the main reasons why Tom and James Teatum designed a coliving space in Hammersmith, London, for millennials. – or at least they anticipated that it will be popular amongst millennials. The space is designed to fit an informal living situation to get people to socialize more outside the house.
Tom and James Teatum run an architecture studio called Teatum+Teatum. This coliving realization is called Garden House – a three-story rental property in West London. It is a rendition to complete the firm’s current noiascape portfolio that mostly is targeted towards Gen-Y.
The architects did a survey to find out how millennials will be using a house throughout the day. When studying the subject’s behavior today, they learned that millennials only spend 17% of their day inside the house – the rest is spent outside in office, school, cafes.
“We are starting to research the rituals we go through every day and understand how we can restructure or add a new narrative,” the brothers told Dezeen. “This study also revealed the rituals we repeat every day – sleeping, washing, eating – how can we create new narratives for these rituals.”
“At Garden House, we have organised the space to increase the amount of time spent at home,” they continued. “These spaces are designed to facilitate home working in an informal way. We want the tenants to use the spaces more intensely, and throughout the day.” (Dezeen.com).
Noiascape aims to bring “city indoors” through its space provision. People at Garden House will be able to have access to a number of services, such as living room, communal kitchen, etc. not only in one property but in their other properties as well.
“We want to re-engage with the idea that you can contribute to a social infrastructure that you could not own as an individual. If we apply this ethos to rental housing infrastructure, we can see a new typology emerging that offers more than a single private space.”
“The tenants at Garden House will have access to all the shared spaces in the network of Noiascape buildings. This means your private space is connected with a series of semi-public spaces across London.” (Dezeen.com)
And going back to the Flexibility point earlier, people can move into Garden House with just a bag or very minimal possessions as furniture and all the amenities will come with the house.
It’s an interconnected web of semi-private/semi-public space after all.
