Home in the Age of Amazon

Abstract

Home in the Age of Amazon explores living in an age where the home as we know it today is nothing but a single component in the larger network of spaces we have come to depend on in our daily lives. In an age dominated by digitization, speedy delivery infrastructure, and user-tailored solutions, we no longer are restricted to the walls of our living units to carry out our daily tasks. Instead, we resort to external spaces just as often as we do our bedrooms, bathrooms, or living rooms, in a manner that has become like second nature. This thesis concludes that a home today is not just a bed, bath, kitchen, etc. but belongs to a new typology: it is a network or cluster, made up of a large set of spaces and programs that include everything the inhabitant does in a day, be it a place to sleep, shop, work, so on. Designing this network requires an understanding of the program not only within a single user’s life, but within the lives of those whose daily routines also intersect the program. The home cluster is thus a multi-owned project that must be flexible to suit a multitude of needs. A design methodology is proposed that allows for this complex intersection of programs and users to be broken down and understood, in attempt to automate the site selection, to facilitate design, and to make change and growth possible within this project. The result is an example of a home in the Mtein area of Lebanon, that caters to a group of entrepreneurs, consumers, and employees, by combining all their needed programs while also having the potential for expansion, shifting, and remote presence.