The Family Room
This project looks at the concept of community and privacy, its unique interpretation in the Cuban family, and how all of that is at risk. visiting Cuba, what I noticed was communes of hyper-extended families living in one home, and a communal space called the family room where the domestic labour occurs. It is defined by objects such as trophies and portraits that tell stories of long lineages. The more western model supports the exportation of this labour outside the family. While the Latin model gives the family the responsibility of nurturing and educating. These types of interactions tend to happen in the common family room, so that became both the structural and metaphorical core of the home. A system was designed to reflect the temporality that comes with the size of what is considered family with paneled bedrooms meant to be built and brought down, but also a grand room that encompasses a large courtyard, a room that stays no matter the time. This large family room will hold the objects that tell the families stories in its walls and create pockets for the labour to take place, an architecture intended to solidify the importance of the Cuban family.
The thickness of the walls allows for the furniture to be integrated, spaces to be dictated, and for the items that tell of the story of the family to be held.
Panels to create bedroom spaces are slotted onto a collection of beams and columns at varying heights to dictate different uses for spaces or different stages of privacy.
A floorplan of one of the cores shows how different rooms can be assembled to function.
This render shows the reliance of the bedrooms to the core, from all the amenities to providing power for light and outlets. because the bedrooms reflect the temporality of the size of a Cuban family, they are designed in a way that can be erected simply, without a need for complicated wiring or piping.
Different forms of breeze blocks are placed on the walls of the bedrooms to allow for air circulation and light to come in. the blocks are designed with different patterns or different stages of openness to dictate the privacy needed for certain parts of the room. This here is one of the desk spaces in a bedroom.
the family room becomes both the metaphorical stabilizer of the extended family as it offers the communal family room to congregate, and a literal stabilizer for the temporary paneled bedrooms.
An overall view like this shows a model of trust, a system of communal living centered around the family room. Some cores are independent and others enhance the existing buildings.
