Project by Zhiwen Guan, Yifan Zu
Everyday Common Living, Belonging, and Collective Space in Loisaida
Everyday Common explores how architecture can cultivate collective identity and belonging through shared space. Inspired by Loisaida’s long tradition of self-built community, cultural festivals, and environmental activism, the project understands home not only as shelter, but as a social and emotional commons. Drawing from everyday journeys—from private rooms to shared backyards, streets, and parks—the design emphasizes fluid transitions between private and communal life. This adaptive reuse project retains the existing load-bearing masonry walls and wooden joists, using the original structure as a framework for new shared living spaces. Rather than four isolated buildings, the proposal integrates housing into a cohesive form organized around shared living clusters. Each cluster centers on a communal living space and atrium, encouraging daily interaction while maintaining gradients of privacy. These atriums extend downward to flexible cellar spaces for performances, workshops, and gatherings, continuing fluidly into the parking area, and upward to a shared rooftop garden—creating an uninterrupted vertical network of collective space. Through shared kitchens, gardens, and adaptable cultural spaces, Everyday Common fosters collective memory, social resilience, and a sense of home as a site of belonging, resistance, and shared imagination.
