The Ark - an urban, vertical monastery for non-believers

• Main Author: Essebro, Nina
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Umeå universitet, Arkitekthögskolan vid Umeå universitet 2020
• Subjects: rituals; collective; introspection; minimum dwelling; Architecture; Arkitektur
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-173730

Climate change and rapidly changing labour markets call for societies to increase their level of resilience. Parallelly, mental illness is tormenting Swedes in increasing numbers. How can society become more resilient unless its inhabitants are? Research have shown that individuals need time for introspection as well as to be part of a group, to obtain balance. People in groups tend to spontaneously form rituals with the function of explaining society, forming rules and bonds and give people a sense of meaning. Social infrastructure is a mean to make people come together, form rituals and develop their social capital - something that increase resilience both on an individual and social level. Architecture at its best can be said to point at, or promote, a desired lifestyle. Because of that, every major shift in society tends to bring about new forms of living. This project is a kind of urban, vertical monastery for non-believers as a way to explore future living. The idea is to find a new example of living and working that can help set a new norm, better adapted to the needs of the 21st century. A housing solution that work as social infrastructure, where individualism and collectiveness can meet. An important part of the project is exploring how small individual space can be when well dimensioned common space and function is offered at the same time. Small individual space help, or force, people to become minimalists due to lack of storage capacity. But minimalism is not just owning few things, it can also be low-key activism. By using yourself as an example you become a sort of activist resisting the consumption society and at the same time advocating for environmental sustainability. Minimalism can also be seen as a religion, a way to ritualize your daily life, to make sense of an increasingly scary world in lack of other belief systems to fall back on.