From Bubble to Habitable Sphere

The objective of this research is to examine the potential of the sphere in the context of architecture for individual housing. The point of departure is the idea of the bubble and the identification of the connotations inherent to it since antiquity that have inspired architects to employ spheres that challenge settled architectural paradigms. The development and use of the sphere are presented through a selection of the most important examples - from the first known utopian vision designed by Antoine Laurent Thomas Vaudoyer in 1783 to the constructed and actually used facilities designed for individual dwellings in the 20th century. The interior design strategies that can address the challenges posed by curved envelope and optimize the use of space in spherical individual dwellings have been further explored in a practical assignment given to students enrolled in the Interior Workshop in the Graduate Programme of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb in the academic year 2020/2021. In addition to these architectural problems of formal nature, the intention of this design-driven experiment was to examine the affinity of the younger generation towards moving away from traditional models of layouts for individual housing, with the goal of possibly creating more humanized spaces that support the idea of a new domesticity: nomadic lifestyles, the integration of work into the domestic sphere, new family models (e.g., single-occupant) or the increasing need for privacy. In the architecture of individual housing, the sphere is in general an uncommon phenomenon. And yet there is a perceptible continuity of innovative architectural forays into the search for the most effective application of this elementary geometrical form.