A working and building method for self-built student housings in a context of crafts

Cultural heritage authorities in Sweden have a goal to increase diversity and encourage people to participate and take responsibility for their local cultural environment and expressions of heritage values. Furthermore, an emerging heritage discourse is to include the intangible cultural heritage, meaning the performances and creating processes associated to the cultural objects and environments. In regard of these new perspectives, how could traditional craft become a resource in contemporary society? Could a participatory heritage approach be used to solve another societal problem, namely the lack of student housing? The purpose of this thesis is to create a working and building method of student houses which has it´s setting in a local context. A leading question is how to design a method that is characterized by ideas of openness, collaboration between and participation among students. The students is here seen as crafting amateurs. The practical experimentation firstly consists in the design of a work- and constructionprocess and secondly the full scale performance in a participatory workshop. This practical research finds its motives in theories about making and design, conceptualizing by co-craft, co-design, open design, adhocism, open structure and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) processes. This theoretical framing is given a practical and inspirational context of a possible project, a fictive case of making Johannesberg to a co-craft living lab. The workshop organisation mostly derives from thoughts about open-design and co-craft and consists in suitably formed station systems where everyone can learn and contribute. The conclusions from the workshop is that curiosity and enthusiasm in the group led to progress in their crafting process. The atmosphere is depending on few guidelines and restrictions; a will to try out an optimal solution for the specific situation. The values and qualities of traditional craft is then to know how to refine local material and resources, limited by the given surroundings.Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen i Kulturvård, Bygghantverk, 22,5 hp, 201