Personalizing Façades

Ornamental Strategies for Multi-Occupant Residential Buildings

Neetesh Ramnath

MArch 2021

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Gregory Katz
Unit Tutor: Jaco Jonker
Unit Assistant: Senzo Mamba

UNIT 17^︎︎︎
To Be Orna-ment To Be

The aesthetic of a façade in Apartment buildings is a formalised design element to represent the identity of the building as a consolidated form. Residents of these structures are limited to interior spaces for their own personalisation of space where they can express their individuality. Personalisation is the act of identifying one’s territory, and therefore allows people to take control of individual expression of their environment. The project questions the aesthetic policy that controls the self-expression of the exterior of these apartment structures. The intention is to question to what degree do we need consensus and uniformity around these and are these rules even desirable?  To what extent can we balance the choices of individuals with a coherent vision for the overall picture. What is the role of the designer in all this? And how is policy a design exercise?

The project speculates a policy that facilitates and empowers residents to personalise their spaces. Residents will be able to adapt architectural elements to their needs through the flexibility facilitated to them. The freedom of the system allows the resident to not only exhibit their individuality but also allows them to resolve issues that may present themselves over time. The architect in this system becomes a facilitator, policymaker for façades, and supplier of a kit of design strategies that are interchangeable based on the resident.

Keywords:
Façades, Residential, Ornament, Policy, Catalogue

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