Wonen is een recht

Kenniswartier (NL) - Special Mention

TEAM DATA

Associates: Matthijs La Roi (NL), Simone Tchonova (BG) – architects

www.tchonovalaroi.com
info@tchonovalaroi.com

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TEAM PORTRAIT

INTERVIEW
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1. How do you define the main issue of your project in relation with the theme “Living Cities Imagining architecture taking care of the milieus”? And in which way do you think your project can contribute to an ecological and/or social evolution?
‘Wonen is een recht’ aims to equalise living conditions for every individual. A stimulant towards a world where every human is housed, no compromises. We think this is also the architect’s responsibility. The project aims to densify housing while advocating for rewilding and preserving the existing natural environment. The most vulnerable are always considered a priority in the project.

2. How did the issues of your design and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?
The urban strategy maximises a continuous nature area. The built is established with a modular design system of block types based on the bouwbesluit, and increasing the minimum dimensions by 5%. The entire project is based on a 2310mm net wide grid, this number comes from the largest minimum dimension of a bathroom for a wheelchair user increased by 5%.

PROJECT:

3. Have you treated these issues previously? What were the reference projects that inspired yours?
Article 25 of the charter of Human Rights was the guiding principle in ‘Wonen is een recht’. The project is dedicated to tackling two of the most pressing issues architects face. That is first, meeting the requirements of Article 25 in the Declaration of Human Rights to provide adequate housing for humans and second to protecting the habitats of the ecological community.

SITE:

4. How can your project be implemented together with the actors through a negotiated process and in time. How did you consider this issue in your project?
A multidisciplinary team including biologists, ecologists and arborists is necessary to develop the ‘nature only zone’ to achieve a healthy biosphere and consider natural migration patterns of animals. Prior to design development rigorous community engagement needs to take place with the local homeless community, residents, community gardeners, students and other stakeholders.

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5. How did you form the team for the competition and if so what are the skills you associated?
The team is composed of Simone Tchonova and Matthijs la Roi. Both members of the team make up Tchonova + la Roi, an architectural practice founded in 2021. Simone and Matthijs are both licensed architects and have been collaborating on architectural projects prior to the establishment of their practice.

6. How could this prize help you in your professional career?
This prize shows that there is wider interest within the architectural community to face the issues of the housing crisis and the ecological crisis through architecture. It also gives a platform for these public issues to be discussed within the architectural discourse. We hope that others will also feel supported and encouraged to continue tackling what may seem as an insurmountable task.

TEAM IDENTITY
Legal status: 
Limited Company
Team name: Tchonova + la Roi
Average age of the associates: 33 years old

Has your team, together or separately, already conceived or implemented some projects and/or won any competition? if so, which ones?
The Coppice Oratory, Chilham, United Kingdom:
https://www.tchonovalaroi.com/coppiceoratory

PROTO-SELFBUILD, London, United Kingdom:
https://www.ribaj.com/intelligence/antepavilion-2019-canal-pop-up-maich-swift-fettle-misc-georgie-day

Museum of Hospitality (Museum van Gastvrijheid), Amersfoort, Netherlands:
https://www.archdaily.com/802065/matthijs-ia-roi-wins-belgian-monument-competition-with-museum-of-hospitality

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