An exploration into how we might better live together with a focus towards sharing, agency and autonomy.
Households draws from personal reflections of living and ageing. It is inspired by Raising the Roof’s aspirations to construct an alternative to what is available in the current political landscape of housing, social care, and economics: Home, at Last (Archifringe 2019).
The recent pandemic has focused ever-sharper light on the need for quality housing and open space for all and is re-adjusting our expectations towards more diverse forms of household arrangements. In summer 2020, Voices of Experience (VoE) invited their participants and the Raising the Roof (RtR) team to consider how they/we might ‘live our older lives’. Sketchbooks were sent out for gathering thoughts, images and values which were later shared in audio and zoomed conversations.
The (un)ruly book has been co-produced through further discussions and the specific creative practices of the VoE and RtR teams. It is organised around 5 scenes which aim to (un)learn how a design for a specific place and group might be taken forward:
Contributing and Stewarding (ownership + factoring)
Rooting and Interdependence (access and amenities)
Sharing and Making Space (private and communal areas)
Testing Limits and Taking Chances (health and safety)
Taking Time and Care (maintenance).
The (un)ruly book considers how we might better live together with a focus towards themes of sharing, agency and autonomy in the context of increasing age demographics, rising levels of loneliness and working from home as an already lived reality for many, particularly women and those with caring responsibilities.
We invite everyone to consider how we might collectively re-imagine our households and working lives in a way that embraces equity, not working/retiring or the giving and receiving of care as we adopt alternative value systems and spatial outcomes.
Note: In this book, when we refer to ‘we’, this applies to us personally as contributors and authors. Equally, it is our hope and intention that this will include and inspire others, particularly those seeking alternative opportunities for living.
Many Hands:
Many hands have contributed to the design and development of the (un)ruly book as follow:
Images created by Voices of Experience from their collection, with special thanks to and contributions from Raising the Roof.
The Voices of Experience participants Anne Duff, Joyce Deans and Dorothy Bell, who provided insight, experiences and contributions within sketchbooks and audio recordings 2020-2021.
Sofya Staune of VAJ power who produced the digital animations.
Tao-Anas le Thanh who created the films.
Photograph courtesy of Sequoia Hearne.
The Archifringe team who provided the opportunity, funding and gave their on going support, inspiration and input into the work