Xiaohan Xie
Rambling and Coffeeing: Immersing in London Balconies, the Research into Urban Habitable Living Conditions in the Post-Pandemic Era
Summary
Our domestic space has been profoundly redefined and reconfigured by Covid-19. How to coexist with various new crises, such as work–home balance crisis, health crisis, marriage crisis, intimacy crisis, affected by the variation in our living patterns, has become an urgent issue.
Since I felt an affinity with stories of people who had small living spaces during the pandemic, and no gardens, I decided to use the balcony as my point of penetration to further explore humane living conditions in the new social context. To my mind, a balcony is the only means by which a person in a small apartment can both be at home and have an outdoor living space.
Inspired by Rina Frank’s autobiographic novel Every House Needs a Balcony, I have determined to explore whether the balcony is an essential part of the infrastructure to our life？When our basic habitable living conditions are sacrificed by the overcrowded urban expansion, is adding a breathing balcony space the most effective and feasible solution? Could this architectural component be promoted in the battleground for decent living space and be legally required as urban welfare? In particular, for the health of those who are marginalized, low-income, co-living, co-renting. Considering the explosive demand for balconies in the British housing market, and the increasingly large number of extensional balconies, London will be my case study.
As an Asian Flâneuse in London, my practice-led research is to conduct a series of London balcony walking interviews, inviting London-based guests from various backgrounds, grabbing a coffee, rambling alongside balconies together, and drawing conclusions from these leisured conversations. Who should be invited? How to invite? Establishing connection with balconies in what way？How to document the process? How to quickly build trust and intimacy after long isolation? Are gender, race, age to be considered in this practice? If leisured urban wandering could be practiced for nearly a century, can walking, talking and coffeeing together also be defined as a formal methodology in participatory research?
Additional info
Xiaohan Xie was born in a village in Fujian, part of the She ethnic minority group, where the complexes are mainly composed of the primitive earthen building- Tulou. At seven years old, she moved to the coastal town Fuzhou with her parents and lived in the typical socialist collective housing estates planned by the state-run enterprise. Her living environment changed from rural large-scale natural house to modern concrete confined box. From the typical cage-like balcony welded by iron nets, she witnessed the exponential surge of Chinese urbanization during the 1990s-2000s. Since she was 15 years old, Xiaohan began to study and settle in different megacities in China: Beijing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, becoming one of the new urban immigrants who move between different cities without permanent accommodation.
In 2020, she moved to London to study Architecture Pathway at the Royal College of Art. As a newcomer, she experienced the most depressingly long period of lockdown. During her daily walk within the neighbourhood, she started to think and care about the housing issues of others. In her MRes research, she has chosen to investigate the balcony as the breaking point to understand this strange city London.
What is a balcony？
The balcony in my research context contains various forms and structures. In addition to the common balcony which is protected by glass or wrought iron balustrade, the terrace directly to your home, with attached garden, are also within the scope of my discussion.
Balconies are platforms enclosed in private domestic spaces, whilst also exposed to public view. Here, you can monitor the outside world but also be observed.
Standing on the balcony, surrounding neighbours, streets, markets, passing pedestrians, vehicles and animals are all interwoven into your daily life. In this intimate and ambiguous territory your sensations can be shaped and magnified.
However, if you take for granted having a space to smoke, stretch, meditate, this is in fact a privileged living condition. The freedom to enjoy the breeze, fresh air and sunlight without going out of your home is not available to every resident.
A naughty thought in Barbican Centre
In the Barbican Centre, except for me, an Asian face, all the people are white, looking well-educated with polished manners. Everything here seems ordered. Darren suddenly had a thought, to do something naughty, breaking the sense of power, privilege and restraint in the Barbican Centre. I looked at the surrounding balconies, disciplined by neat decorative flowers, reminiscent of the vivid balconies I had seen, blurted out: drying underwear! Imagine one day, these upper-class nobles come here to watch the classic music performance as usual, when they are enjoying the afternoon tea and sunshine on the square, suddenly, all the flowers on the surrounding balconies are replaced by various colours and styles of underwear; the square has been attacked by the laundry line, like the balconies in the alleys of Shanghai. What an interesting visual conflict. Performance art, isn’t it? Also, very naughty.
Darren: I’ve had an idea as to how you could do the washing line project in the Barbican.
Me: What idea?
Darren: Well… you could go there with a couple of friends with washing attached to poles and walk around the centre… might be easier if the clothes were dry, basically walking about like moveable washing poles with the washing strung between the walkers! Haha.
Me: Haha, we can hold our clothes poles together in line. Just not sure if we will be fined.
Darren: Yes! If you had poles to hold it up high, it would be funny. It could be an artwork or a protest. I’m not sure what the Estates would say? You could get approval by being an RCA student? Maybe.
Me: Maybe, that’s funny! If I make a plan, I will definitely invite you!
Darren: Haha, great! Even seeking an application is research, I guess. You could also have a portable balcony that you could move about.
Me: Yes! Good idea, carry my underwear! If I don’t have a balcony with enough sunshine to dry clothes. I can carry them to a decent place.
Darren: Yes! Have a glass of wine with a friend with a nice view. A place of sanctuary.
Me: Utilizing public spaces to make up for the lack of domestic space.
Darren: You could have a floating balcony that moves towards the sun, la hover balcony. Or ones on Cherry pickers! Yes! Which could fit in with Covid spaces too. Separate the Barbican into 2,000 small balcony pens for a temporary project.
Me: Kind of break the boundaries, get involved in upper-class life.
Darren: Haha, the upper class with the lower-class novelties.
If you are interested in more rambling and coffeeing interviews, please do not hesitate to email me ^.^
