This project was created with the aim to provide co-housing for different group with a sense of communal well-being by instilling a sense of healthy interdependence through the spaces created. 

On a larger scale, a socio-economic-agricultural model creates loops of interaction and income generation, and acts as a guide for the master plan.


 In general the project aims to create a sense that there are spaces where people can feel like they belong and spaces where they have other individuals whom they can lean on. It also provides spaces which they wouldn’t otherwise have, by making them communal.

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Residents can gain tokens by working within the community through agriculture and other services, and these tokens would be invested within the businesses run by other residents on site. Whether its a grocery, restaurant, or hair salon.

Our project has an artisanal centre to generate more visitors which could participate in harvesting, and further activate the local economy by making use of the local businesses.

This centre involves an artisanal kitchen, as well as numerous workshops found on site, and a weekly artisan market to generate more visitors.

The site will have two main entrances; one when approaching from Coast road, and another when approaching from Pembroke. The latter has been modified such that one sees the village folding in front of them upon arriving. The masterplan includes a series of artisan workshops, workshops, artisanal food centre which utilises produce grown and harvested on site.

Additionally, wellness flourishes through other activities, such as the looped pathways that allow one to walk or run, and a wellness walk which is dedicated to reflection. A village piazza will be located at the centre, similar to that of the traditional Maltese village which will be supported by psychological and spiritual services in the nearby cluster.

Upon doing research on mixed income cohousing i found that such a typology generally has flaws in the assumptions it makes about people who have lower  incomes, and the amount of time and effort they are able to dedicate to the community, when working very long hours and multiple jobs.

Therefore the idea of facilitating more interdependence allows additionally for low income residents to be able to create connections despite a lower direct input. This is done by creating a sense of generational interdependence.

By joining different generations together, they could depend on each other and create a common ground for connections. On plan, this is done by pairing up two types of demographics, and providing them with two different types of housing.

On the left unit, the space is rented out by room as shared housing; meaning this could house demographics of elderly who are lonely who live together, or students, young professionals, and others.

The other is rented as a whole, meaning it’s rented by different kinds of larger family units.
In my project I shall be focusing on a housing typology for elderly to be housed in the shared flat, and young families with children in the unitised apartments.

1. First the centre is gutted out to create a common core and entrance between both sides, rather than the current separate two entries.
2. The steel eksoskeleton is then applied to the structure as a means to create additions without putting pressure on the original building.
3. Paths and terraces are added between spaces to create connections between units.
4. Two of the additional units will be the same in each typology; a communal kitchen on the ground floor, and a laundry room and common roof garden.
5. More units are added to fit the specific need of this community. These units are communal spaces to be shared.
6.  There also leaves room for the future, to create extensions and guestrooms for family members of the community, or visitors who want to temporarily rent these rooms for leisure.

At this stage the structure may be further appropriated by adding different shading and solar cells on the roof.

There is an activity room across from the stairwell to host a library of books, and a piano. This is a space aimed for elderly, but may be used by the children as an extended living room. This space acts as a gatekeeper for the children’s room which is located further to the right, which is a space where children can play or do their homework.

Having these two spaces in close proximity to each other and to other semi public terraces is important to further create that connection through proximity, where elderly have an opportunity to spend time with children and look after them whilst their parents might be busy or tired.

The second floor then has a co-working space for parents working from home with extra space outside for when they want to work without feeling confined to a dark corner of their apartment. This space, along with the children’s room have been influenced by issues we have faced during the pandemic of need for separate spaces for children and for remote work.

The structure also has 1m x 1m vegetable patches for vertical urban farming which act to provide greenery as well as buffers between the different spaces such as the semi public terraces and the pathways.  These private terraces are a means for residents to appropriate their spaces and to create a greater sense of a “vertical street”. They are directly connected to different apartments and through the different paths created.






At roof level you find a typical kamra tal-bejt with a laundry space, which can also be used for storage. The space may open up and be used for leisure, especially in hot summers when there’s a breeze and some shading. It is also used as another space for more urban farming.

The structure is modular and can be reassembled, or altered if need be through the steel columns and different types of beams; primary, secondary and tertiary beams which connect together through bolting to create a sturdy structure to support the modular units and provide longitudinal bracing for the main frame.