Common Hands.
Throughout my Master’s studies, my research and design work have concentrated on addressing the current housing crisis, the erosion of vernacular architecture, and strategies to revitalize communities. My dissertation examined alternative approaches to the provision of affordable housing, while my final design thesis focused on the implementation of one such approach—self-built homes— as a means of establishing a new pathway to affordable housing within the UK. My passion for architecture is rooted in a deep commitment to supporting communities affected by natural disasters and conflict. I aspire to further develop this research and, in the future, contribute meaningfully to rebuilding efforts in such vulnerable regions.
This research begun from a desire to find the gap between a post industrial town and the growing inequalities and affordable housing crisis. It then developed into a detailed study on The Segal Method for self-built housing, which materialised in a design project split into two parts. Common Hands, a prototype education centre, and the Common House, a modular housing design for self build implementation. This thesis has grown from an exploration of self-built houses, to how they can be better utilised to battle the urgent housing crisis within the UK and with a detailed design backing. It has been a fruitful project, allowing one to investigate natural materials, pushing for a sustainable approach to housing that one can take control of themselves. The project set out with an aim to discover methods and design principles for a modern self-build house that could become more accessible. It has culminated with a specific modular housing design protocol, that can allow one to not only understand the benefits, how they can build, but guide them through it, facilitated with a prototype centre to allow skills to be learned, developed and tested at 1:1 scale.
