Masters Thesis

Regenerating Gundeldinger Cooperative Housing - Basel CH

With a rapidly growing population, Basil, Switzerland, is seeking effective densification strategies...

My master's thesis aims to test the cooperative housing typology as a technique for creating dense, diverse, and socially sustainable communities, which I define as an unprescribed symbiotic system that naturally regenerates as lives and cultural contexts evolve. Key components of my proposed densification strategy include the inherent resource pooling of cooperatives, retaining existing structures, offering varied housing types, encouraging organic interaction through circulation, and considering the individual within an urban collective.

This project proposes repopulating and extending an under-occupied set of apartments in the Gundeldinger neighbourhood. At the end of a typical Basel rectangular courtyard housing block, the site consists of a long bar of flats and two 'townhouse' style buildings with a central garden. It is owned by the Baseler Wohen Genosenchaft (BWG) and was built as cooperative apartments in 1931.

The whole thesis research can be read here: