Actors of care
Home as a place for care
Master’s Degree Project
2025
The thesis explores the condition of domestic space as both a home and a place for care, by investigating the interactions between the elderly and the caregivers. Specific objects of care and regulations within Sweden affect our understanding of housing architecture, its spatial, material and aesthetic qualities. The aim is to understand the complex network of actors within care and their mundane actions as the mediator between architecture, its inhabitants and the possibilities of everyday domestic life.
An ageing body tends to become less individualized, as the need for others to care for it increases. Simultaneously, the caregiver profession is struggling with underpaid workers, staff shortages, and poor working conditions. The investigation is conducted within the typology “Trygghetsboende”, or extra care housing, where care is administrated through home care services. The typology caters to elderly facing loneliness, insecurity or a need for stimulation, reducing reliance on intensive elder care. The project explores tactile and spatial qualities in care scenarios, as well as how the building provides security and social engagement in the everyday. It does this by focusing on the actions performed through care, where accessibility is a key actor in negotiating the space. This is investigated from the scale of the site, cluster, dwelling and room. The project proposal is a domestic cluster oriented towards an elderly resident, and oriented towards a caregiver. The thesis aims to care for the elderly residents, but also cares for the caregivers.
Gustav Marklund
Architecture Programme, Studio 11
The dwelling unit
Layers of care
The interior
The residential cluster
The courtyard
