Elissavet’s proposal for a multi-generational housing scheme in the estuarine landscapes near the Isle of Sheppey is inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), and imagines a long-term design and construction process for a small housing scheme. 
 
The project is grounded in a rich understanding of the local socio-economic and geological context and from this, seeks to address the chronic issues surrounding the UK housing crisis. Exploring ideas of temporality, weathering, handcraft and the London vernacular, this ambitious scheme for an ever-growing family aims to create an ‘architecture for the ages’ alongside the humdrum and the everyday.
 
Drawing on literary references, graphic novels, architectural history and material sciences, the building absorbs a complex mix of changing generational predilections, expressing them in spatial and decorative form. The ultimate aim is for the family of buildings ‘to meaningfully endure’. This is explored through digital and physical handcrafting which addresses ideas of adaptability, durability, maintenance and care. 
 
On the muddy banks of the Thames, a deeply familiar and protective kind of architecture is laid to root: a hopeful message to future generations.