Feeling home in a temporary environment

Feeling home in a temporary environment: Creating a temporary living environment for students with shipping containers which gives a feeling of home

Robertson, Paul (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment; TU Delft Architectural Engineering)

Smit, Mo (mentor)
Bilow, Marcel (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

2017-07-04

The last couple of years it is very hard for students to find a proper and affordable home in Amsterdam. As a reaction to this matter, the government has built several student complexes which consist of transformed shipping containers. It is a very effective and quick solution in order to cope with the rising number of students who are in need of a home. But unfortunately there are also disadvantages about this way of offering students a home. Because the container is made of steel, it is hard to generate a good climate control. This has the consequence that in winter times it can be very cold as in the summer it can be very hot. Another disadvantage is that because the shipping containers are looking the same, you see that the container complexes have a very impersonal and unfriendly character. To tackle these problems this research paper tries to find a way in order to transform the shipping containers in such a way that a living environment is being created which gives the feeling of home. Before you are able to transform a shipping container you have to learn the basic knowledge about the container. Research about the construction, climate design, utilities, toxics and fire safety are needed. This research has shown that there are several ways to transform a shipping container. Most important is that you meet the building requirements. With this basic knowledge the next step can be taken which leads the research to examining what a feeling of home actually means. Literature research has shown that for a feeling of home, different terms are very important: personal, physical, social and identification. These terms also take place at two levels, namely the micro- and macro level. In this research paper, physical strategies, based on the knowledge of the container and the feeling of home, are being implemented in order to transform a shipping container into a home which gives a feeling of home.

construction
climate design
utilities
toxics & fire safety

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ec56b28c-a411-479e-a14b-a05ad7df1c86

Student theses

master thesis

© 2017 Paul Robertson