Yichen Li
Urban Normads: Apartments for Freelancers
Digital print
30 x 84 cm
In contemporary society, traditional labour form is deconstructed by digital technology. Freelance working form develops its popularity especially in the group of people working based on portable interface, such as...
In contemporary society, traditional labour form is deconstructed by digital technology. Freelance working form develops its popularity especially in the group of people working based on portable interface, such as individual designers, visual artists and programmers. The labour they used to exchange market value is data and abstract ideas rather than physical productivity. Adapting the idea of ocean liner, which is a symbol of an engineering feat, the epitome of luxury and hospitality, the perfect machine for living, not only represents the sailing history of Glasgow, but also could be a radical way of contemporary habitation. The design of pods and decks have potential to be flexible architectural elements which could be easily assembled and disassembled. It fits the nature of the freelancing labour that causes the short-term tenancy and flexible households. In this situation, a style of nomadic housing could be applied. Such housing consists of different combinations of modular pods and decks. The combinations could be switched according to frequently changing households by a permanent crane structure settled in the centre of the site. The mobility of domesticity and labour serves tenants rather than vise versa.