Sustainable student housing : urban village in Milan

Abstract

This diploma thesis represents a sustainable housing design proposal for students co-living in Campus Polimi in Milan, based on integrating urban farming and landscape productivity. This urban village for students is located on an existing green plot on Polytechnic University’s campus. This urban village accommodates 87 community-based living units for students.

The topic of the thesis appeared with the emergence of a shortage in housing for bachelor and master students who do not receive organized support since they are not recognized as a vulnerable group of people to housing demand. This issue is addressed with a multi-functional program to optimize the well-being of students. Sustainability is demonstrated via the social and ecological aspects of the design proposal. This prototype is a building consisting of multi-functional spaces providing communal activities like urban farming and co-working areas.

As a result of the research part based on both historical and climatic inspections, an adaptive design based on expanding modularity is produced. This modularity made mixing semi-public spaces with private spaces possible to create a flexible program that can adapt and change to future needs.

This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part briefly investigates the historical and climatic background of the design context through different analyzing methods in terms of historical and climatic visions. In the second part, the investigation’s result is instilled into the design process of the building with architectural drawings and diagrams supporting the design proposal.