Dwelling in Dialogue
Housing for Shared Agency & Adaptive Design
This thesis project explores how themes of agency, flexibility, and contextual ecological integration can exist within residential architectural design. Informed by Mikhail Bakhtin’s philosophical theory of polyphony, the project re-imagines domestic and community spaces as a set of adaptable, adjacent frameworks for multiple voices and perspectives to emerge and coexist. Located in Ashton-under-Lyne, a town shaped by a monological economic narrative grounded in its industrial history, the project engages with the site’s ecological opportunity, proposing an alternative way of living within the prescriptive environment.
A key focus within the architectural design lies in adjacent thresholds between private, semi-private, shared, and public spaces—creating seamless transitions that encourage user engagement with both internal and external living environments. An expanded provision of structurally independent communal spaces is embedded in the programme to support collective transformation and promote a shared sense of care. Each dwelling centres on a multifunctional core that integrates services, storage, and structure into a single spatial element. Adaptable internal wall partitions allow residents to reconfigure their spaces over time, supporting long-term flexibility.
The project also explores the Mutual Home Ownership Society (MHOS) as a co-operative housing strategy that supports the project's themes and conceptual foundation by promoting collective investment and shared responsibility, particularly through equity shares and maintenance systems, including collective decision-making around replaceable building elements.
The proposal adopts a fabric-first approach, reinterpreted through the use of breathable and low-carbon materials such as timber, favouring natural porosity over a synthetic, sealed environment. Hybrid systems balance comfort with on-site passive environmental resources. The project’s layout and landscape strategy focus on managing human agency in relation to nature and promoting low-impact living, reinforcing the site’s existing ecological value.
