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What is Comfort? A Manual to Disrupt the ‘Norm’ of Domestic Architecture

Part 2 Project 2021
Joseph Willoughby
Felicity Morris
Emily Niven
University of Liverpool | UK
The research within this thesis project is timely, as in recent years collective programmes developed outside of the home have moved inside. Advances in technology have enabled the kitchen table to become the office, the bathroom to become the spa, and the living room to become the school. Modern housing has become its own micro-city. Our research by design approach disrupts the norm of domestic architecture through the creation of a dynamic manual, whereby changing parameters changes the hierarchy of comfort. Unfortunately, in our modern society the minimum standard also inversely becomes the maximum. Developers save money by designing more efficient spaces, with smaller façades and standardised, mass produced windows and materials. Whilst architects have a memory bank full of standard dimensions. The organisation of our modern homes is often dictated on paper
before it even exists. Plans are submitted with standardised furniture placed precisely in accordancewith window or power outlet positions. We developed a methodology for challenging standards and creating a human-centred approach to designing domestic architecture rather than an economic model to be exploited. Following this manual with a different protagonist and location would uncover new
design opportunities, furthering our understanding of human comfort.

Joseph Willoughby
Felicity Morris
Emily Niven

Tutor(s)
Johanna Muszbek
Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez
2021
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