ABSTRACT
This chapter explains new approaches to the designing of dwellings that are emerging, providing a specific type of flexibility and adaptability relevant to an ageing and diversifying population. A series of best practice examples are discussed that loosen the grip of functionalist design approaches that currently dominate real estate conceptions of the home and over-determine spatial use. We observe a shift in these examples away from singular functional definitions and towards ritually defined notions of space, and an approach that maximises envelopes and minimises compartmentalisation. These changes can be quite small, but they herald a hugely significant shift in the designing of housing today. Parallel examples from previous historical periods are illustrated, and an argument is posited for a type of undifferentiated residential space rendered functional and ritualised through the use of ‘furnitures’ and technologies, which are able to support self-organising regimes of care.
