A conceptual approach to create hybrid spaces to support everyday family life and social interaction:case: communal building in the Aaltokangas housing area

Abstract. The diploma thesis: A conceptual approach to create hybrid spaces to support everyday family life and social interaction. Case: Communal building in the Aaltokangas Housing area is a design based thesis. The building is located to Aaltokangas neighbourhood, in the Northernmost parts City of Oulu. The size of the building site is ca 5500 square meters. The site is next to the daycare centre in the neighbourhood with detached houses. The idea of the topic of this diploma thesis first came with the thought of how a pandemic prompted a sudden shift to remote work for many people around the world. Before Covid-19, the Nordic country had already demonstrated impressive levels of remote working. However, due to the pandemic more people shifted to remote working and are hoosing to continue with this functional approach, as a greater per cent of the Finnish information workers are still working remotely. This scenario requires different working configurations, and as a result, communal coworking spaces have emerged as a new office typology. The purpose of this diploma thesis is to look into the possibilities of communal building with the facilities of coworking spaces in a neighbourhood with detached houses. In this diploma thesis, I focus on developing different hybrid space ideas to support everyday family life and social interaction of a neighbourhood. As a case I have chosen the site with detached houses to design a prototype of such a communal building which includes facilities like coworking space and use of multipurpose spaces that allow users of all age groups in the neighbourhood to enjoy this space according to their needs