Deepthi Puthenpurackal

Villa Heuss is a residential house built in the early 20th century as a single-family home surrounded by a large garden in Zürich, Fluntern. In this project, I re-imagine the villa by exploring what denser living within the existing structure could look like for us. But who exactly is meant by us? Cities are vital settlement areas not only for humans, but also for diverse flora and fauna: 67% of Switzerland’s fauna and 45% of its flora thrive in urban areas. The loss of natural habitats to monocultural, man-made landscapes is forcing many species out into the city, where they rely on a multi-species friendly environment in order to survive.

This design explores the idea of housing multiple life forms creating a denser cohabitation between human and non-human residents, inspired by the work of Donna Haraway. The building will be transformed into shared apartments for families with multiple children, while the design aims to create living spaces for different species. The architectural interventions of this model of kinship strengthen interspecies relationships by selectively dissolving spatial boundaries: The shared environments encourage both harmony and friction, opening up educational moments for children and their guardians and encourage them to connect and build relationships with our often overlooked non-human neighbors.