Examining the historical evolution of housing reveals that concepts of home, identity, time, and space transcend mere architecture. From the early 20th century to today, human development has been influenced by increasingly rapid social, cultural, economic, and technological changes. Advances in communication and information technologies have created an environment of permanent connectivity, which sometimes distances individuals from the physical locations they occupy. Faced with an intense flow of stimuli and digital platforms, shared living, in various scales and architectural formats, emerges as both a challenge and an opportunity to reconnect people to their surroundings, using design strategies that promote the flexibility and freedom of movement necessary in contemporary life.
Migrations and Urban Tourism
In a highly connected world, migrations have resulted in cities with great cultural diversity, while digital technologies have enabled long-distance communication and the emergence of new virtual environments. Contemporary nomads constantly move, carrying their traditions, ways of thinking, and identities, which may or may not alter the places they pass through.
Often, the cultural and historical complexity of cities is simplified and adapted for tourist consumption. Tourism, for example, can cause the displacement of local communities while simultaneously boosting the growth of new accommodation options. However, the communities impacted by tourism remain vital to the identity of neighborhoods and cities. Many hostels seek to enhance the visitor experience by integrating the local context through shared internal and external areas, courtyards that connect guests to the surrounding landscape, and other design tactics that foster community life.
Examples of Integrated Architecture
Projects such as The Terrasse Orange Toi, located in Japan, exemplify this methodology by uniting several functions in a single architectural work. This project was conceived both as an evacuation point in case of a tsunami and as a viewpoint integrated into the community's routine, demonstrating how modern architecture accommodates diverse users and overlapping programs. Such proposals aim to revitalize areas, adapt existing buildings, or reinforce community resilience, treating tourism as just another activity in the urban fabric, encouraging visitors to actively participate in places rather than merely observe them.
Although tourism is a crucial economic driver in many cities, there is a growing collective perception regarding the value of local history and identity, seeking to diminish the separation between visitors and residents. Identity is not fixed; it evolves continuously through historical processes, shaped by both intangible cultural values and the physical and architectural environments that sustain them. The city itself becomes a record of its history, where the passage of time is inscribed in the built environment, contributing to a sense of urban belonging, making space feel like an extension of home. This raises a fundamental question: can a nomadic lifestyle develop its own identity? And how can this identity be built without depending on a specific location?
Shared Spaces and Local Culture
The diversity of identities in modern cities is already an established reality, making the challenge for architects increasingly the design of spaces that allow different lifestyles to coexist without losing connection to local history. Projects like De Huế Space, in Vietnam, which combines hospitality and regional tourism promotion, reflect the surroundings in both their design solutions and spatial organization. The proposal respects the local beauty, culture, and way of life, drawing inspiration from the cultural landscape of Thuy Bieu, maintaining a facade defined by hedges and a front courtyard typical of the region.
Beyond serving as a transition zone between residences and traffic routes, the courtyard functions as a shared meeting point for artistic and cultural events. The Dong-Ba room operates as a common area for socializing, kept open by a system of folding doors, receiving visitors while organizing joint activities. Meticulously incorporated details, such as room plaques made with Hue painted enamel art and bamboo headboards produced in the village of Bao-La, encourage guests to explore and interact with local cultural heritage.
De Huế Space is not an isolated case. Tamni Hostel, in Thailand, has also generated a positive impact on both the local community and the environment, promoting the well-being not only of visitors but also of residents and the long-time owner. This project renovated 22 commercial townhouses over 60 years old into a complex that includes a hostel, a spa, a two-bedroom private residence, and office spaces. Designed as a place of rest, the complex stimulates community interaction in a tranquil and informal atmosphere, blending old materials, utensils, stories, and architectural elements with sensitivity to maintain the original character of the place, giving it a new life.
Cultural Homages and Community Gatherings
Meanwhile, BAFENG Retreat pays tribute to Turpan, China, recognized as an ancient convergence point of cultures, religions, and peoples. Its rear entrance, previously used as a service corridor for staff and hostel deliveries, has been transformed into a welcoming public space, equipped with plant beds, seating, and a small common area that now serves as a neighborhood meeting point. There, local students, elderly Uyghurs playing chess, and retreat guests can gather and converse, creating opportunities for visitors to approach the daily life and culture of the Uyghur community.
Nature as a Source of Identity
Courtyards, gardens, and terraces are gaining increasing importance in hostels, offering outdoor areas for rest and leisure while promoting a direct connection with nature. Qingli Home Stay, in China, for example, is organized around an inward-facing landscaping, where all internal public spaces and pedestrian paths are designed to connect to a central courtyard. These outdoor areas also have the power to strengthen the bonds between people who frequent the place.
Ramai Boys Hostel, in India, illustrates this trend by stimulating interaction among students through internal spaces that open to the exterior and connect to the surrounding landscape. The window arrangement considers existing trees, and the jharokhas (traditional projecting windows) face the courtyard, acting as crucial points of visual and social connection within the building. In addition to ensuring ventilation and natural light, the courtyard functions as the core of the hostel, organizing daily activities around it. The entrance, adjacent rooms, balconies, and lobby open onto this central space, creating a shared environment that invites coexistence and exchange.
Furthermore, these communal spaces dialogue with regional materials, construction techniques, and building technologies, bringing guests closer to the cultural heritage, traditions, and history of the region. Hidden Garden Hostel, in Thailand, is a renovation of a traditional ribbon commercial townhouse—a very common type in Chiang Mai—converted into a hostel. The main design strategy was to open the center of the complex, transforming it into a vast green courtyard that connects all parts of the new hostel. The proposal preserves materials that reflect local culture and identity, such as granite columns, clay tiles, and polished concrete walls, while also integrating new inputs from local producers. Together, these elements celebrate the identity of Chiang Mai, supporting the area's ancient artisanal tradition.
Corridors as Meeting Points
Through paths, passages, and other connections between volumes and spaces, circulation flows in hostels are structured by open or closed corridors, whose dimensions meet functional, spatial, and design requirements. Village Collective Housing, in China, for example, puts residents at the center of decisions by prioritizing shared spaces over the traditional housing model of 'minimum common area and maximum private space.' Instead, the project expands common areas to accommodate a greater variety of activities, allowing private rooms to fulfill multiple functions and enriching the living experience.
This approach is notable in the design of corridors and balconies. The main corridor extends over 20 meters, and its minimum width was increased from the standard of 1.2 meters to 2.4 meters. Far from being just a passageway, it transforms into an active social space where neighbors can set up tables for collective meals and meetings. The widened corridor also provides a safe place for children to play, stimulating daily interaction and strengthening bonds among residents.
In addition to its circulation function, corridors can have environmental and technical roles, as seen in Student's Hostel, in India. The new building was positioned at a certain distance from the existing hostel and organized around several internal courtyards connected by walkways. On the upper floor, a corridor facing one of the courtyards not only provides access to the dormitories but also acts as a thermal barrier during the intense summer heat. Additionally, it houses the evaporative cooling ducts that supply fresh air to the dormitories.
The shared space becomes the determining factor in many hostels, shaping not only the daily life of guests but also the neighborhoods and communities in which they are situated. Living rooms, common kitchens, courtyards, and circulation areas form the basis for building an identity, while stimulating cultural exchanges and intergenerational connections beyond geographical barriers. From the raw material of a structure to the texture of a construction technique, each project expresses the identity of its region through architecture deeply rooted in the territory it occupies.
