Storage

We define Storage as a collection of matter within a defined volume in space. We store what carries value to us — value that may be objectively visible or subjectively attached. With passing of Time value can evolve until we question its legitimacy to take up space. Depending on the content we store and the context in which we store controlled temperature, safety, materiality and visibility define the vessel.

In most cases we store our things tucked away, more or less neatly in a Reduit, a cupboard, a closet, wherever we see fit. Even if they are not organized on the inside, the fact that it is not visible gives us a sense of cleanliness and security. Then there are the exceptions, the items we openly show within our home, whether out of practicality or identity.

To store not only what guarantees our survival but also the accumulation of items that have - are and will serve a purpose is a luxury. But it is also a reflection of our consumption of how much matter we gather and how much space we claim to keep it. We store not only food or fuel, but memories, potential, and material worth — all compressed into the private geometry of an apartment.

If storage once meant survival, and now reflects accumulation, what is the right to storage today? And if we have that right, how do we define its dimensions — personal, architectural, and collectively?

In the project phase, we expand our question on the right to storage by addressing those who have lost — or are about to lose — the vessel of home. When displacement occurs, belongings often outlast the spaces that once contained them. The city offers shelters for people, storage for things is kept separate or is non existent. There is rarely a place that can accommodate both the person and all their belongings at once. Our proposal positions itself in this gap: a structure of living storage, a bridging solution where the stored becomes inhabitable.

Built within an existing parking structure, it transforms a place for vehicles into a framework for temporary dwelling. The ready-made industrial shelf serves as the new vessel, remaining neutral while allowing additions and adjustments during design to respond to varying situations. Building on this system, the modular grid defines individual units as sheltered private spaces, while variations in transparency, and materiality mediate their relationship to the collective. Personal furniture and belongings inhabit these units, while shared objects extend outward onto communal shelving, dissolving the boundary between living and storing. All units are linked by a central spine that concentrates collective functions — living spaces, passive storage, and circulation.

Over time, the architecture absorbs change: people come and go, furniture shifts, layouts evolve. The act of appropriation becomes the project’s meaning — a space continuously rewritten by those who inhabit and store themselves within it.

Autumn 2025

Project by: Anna-Lena Ludewig, Milena Binder, Selina Schönholzer, Finia Sonderegger

Teaching team: Anna Puigjaner, Dafni Retzepi, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Lisa Maillard, Luis Úrculo, Pol Esteve Castelló, He Shen

Images by Luís Úrculo