Feminist approach to housing and space

Feminist Approach to Housing and Everyday Space

2 June 2026

Author: Adrian Welch

Xiaochi Chen:

Xiaochi Chen: Designing for the Invisible – A Feminist Approach to Housing and Everyday Space

Many contemporary housing developments are driven by efficiency, density, and standardisation, reducing affordable housing to a problem of economics and technical performance. For London-based architectural designer Xiaochi Chen, however, this perspective overlooks a more fundamental question: how does housing shape social relations, and who remains unseen within its spatial logic?

Chen’s work is grounded in the recognition that domestic space is not neutral. It is structured by underlying social dynamics, including gendered divisions of labour, invisible care work, and uneven access to economic participation. These conditions are embedded within everyday spatial arrangements, yet are rarely addressed directly in architectural design.

Her interest in housing emerges from her academic research into the spatial and economic role of women within traditional courtyard systems. Through her graduate thesis, Chen examined the absence of female narratives in garden and courtyard heritage, revealing how women’s labour—particularly in textile production, embroidery, and small-scale trade—has historically played a vital role in local economies while remaining largely unacknowledged in spatial discourse.

In these historical contexts, women’s economic participation was enabled by a distinct spatial system. Semi-open elements such as doorways, windows, verandas, and transitional thresholds created a flexible interface between the domestic interior and the external marketplace. These spaces allowed for observation, interaction, and exchange to occur without fully exposing the private sphere, enabling domestic life and economic activity to coexist within a continuous spatial framework.

However, with the commercialisation and redevelopment of courtyard heritage, these adaptive spatial conditions have gradually been replaced by rigid, consumption-oriented environments. The semi-open systems that once supported distributed, small-scale economic activity have been diminished or erased, significantly reducing opportunities for informal labour and spatial agency—particularly for women.

In response, Xiaochi Chen has developed a design methodology informed by feminist spatial thinking, proposing openness not simply as a visual or formal attribute, but as a spatial and socio-economic condition. In her work, openness functions as an organisational framework that enables visibility, interaction, and participation within everyday environments.

This conceptual approach is translated into her affordable housing proposal (HVH project), a mid-density residential scheme developed within an academic design context. Rather than conceiving housing as isolated units arranged for maximum efficiency, the project proposes a layered spatial system that integrates living, social, and productive activities.

Within the HVH project, Chen played a key role in developing spatial strategies across multiple scales, from unit configuration to circulation systems and shared environments. One of the central interventions lies in the transformation of circulation spaces. Instead of functioning as neutral corridors, these areas are reimagined as active interfaces that support informal use, social interaction, and small-scale economic activities.

Semi-open and transitional spaces are strategically distributed throughout the scheme, providing opportunities for residents to engage in everyday working practices within the domestic environment. This allows housing to accommodate forms of informal labour that are often excluded from standard residential models.

At the level of the dwelling unit, adaptability becomes a primary design principle. The housing units are designed to accommodate flexible living-working arrangements, responding to the overlapping nature of domestic, professional, and care-related activities in contemporary life. Layered thresholds are introduced to mediate between privacy and openness, enabling residents to control their degree of engagement with shared space.

Through these spatial strategies, the HVH project challenges the assumption that affordable housing must prioritise efficiency at the expense of spatial quality. Instead, it demonstrates how careful spatial organisation can significantly enhance everyday experience, particularly for those engaged in care work or informal economies.

At the same time, Chen’s design methodology extends beyond housing into other spatial typologies. In her research-driven project Qu Shui Liu Shang · Winding Stream, she applies a similar spatial logic to the design of a hospice environment in Suzhou.

In this project, spatial organisation is structured as a continuous field rather than a set of discrete rooms. Functions are arranged as a gradient of care, transitioning from communal and social spaces to more private, contemplative environments. Rather than prioritising efficiency or direct circulation, the project emphasises perceived time, allowing movement to unfold through pauses, gentle deviations, and sensory engagement with landscape, light, and water.

Water, landscape, and semi-open spatial elements act as mediating devices, slowing movement and enabling non-obligatory encounters. At the same time, architectural elements such as seating, boundaries, and enclosures are designed as psychological buffers, offering both connection and withdrawal. In this context, openness is not equivalent to exposure, but operates as a dynamic condition balancing visibility, protection, and emotional comfort.

This cross-scalar application of spatial thinking demonstrates that Chen’s work is not limited to a specific building type. Instead, it reflects a broader investigation into how architecture can support different forms of everyday life—whether through enabling informal economies in housing or reconfiguring care environments.

Working within real-world constraints, including density requirements, cost awareness, and regulatory frameworks, Chen’s projects maintain a strong connection between theoretical inquiry and architectural feasibility. Her work illustrates how critical spatial strategies can be embedded within practical design proposals.

In Xiaochi Chen’s design philosophy, architecture is not simply a matter of form or function, but a means of structuring relationships—between individuals, communities, and systems of production and care. Through a feminist and human-centred approach, her work seeks to reintroduce spatial agency into everyday environments, enabling housing and care spaces that are more inclusive, adaptive, and responsive.

By bridging historical spatial knowledge with contemporary urban challenges, Xiaochi Chen continues to explore how architecture can bring visibility to the unseen, and in doing so, contribute to a more equitable and meaningful built environment.

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