Pablo Picasso and Jacqueline in the living room of Villa La Californie, 1957. Photo David Douglas Duncan

The apartment is the primary residential unit of most European cities, apartment blocks the principle urban element that gives form to European cities such as Berlin, Paris, and Vienna. British cities, including London, are different, being primarily formed of houses. The pressing need for new homes is placing greater demand on land and as we belatedly recognise both the benefits and necessity of building at higher densities the fabric of our cities is slowly changing. The London Plan targets the construction of 52,000 new homes each year, with approximately 30% of these being affordable or intermediate housing.

In Unit 4 this year, we will continue to work on one of the most pressing issues of current times - how to build contemporary homes? How to build homes to suit contemporary lifestyles, whilst offering flexibility for an unknown future; How to build homes efficiently in aid of both affordability and sustainability; How to build homes that can successfully shape the public realm, and thus the civic life of the evolving city. 

We will challenge planning policy, building regulations, industry norms, and everyday preconceptions, with an ambition to innovate.

We will continue to work on sites along the Regent's canal, This time in Bethnal Green at The Oval, a distinct urban space in the process of transition. The site will offers students a range of sites for either new build or conversion projects, and at a range of scales.

Britain's tradition of house building seems to have left us ill prepared for the design, construction, and inhabitation of contemporary apartments, as the levels of quality and ingenuity in the UK's new housing seem to lag far behind our European neighbours. We will primarily be looking beyond Britain's shores in our research. We will travel to Switzerland to look at recent examples of housing that challenge the norm in both spatial and tectonic terms - that offer news ways of living for residents both individually and collectively, as well as inventive methods of construction.