A R E M O V E D H O M E
S E R V I C E D E S I G N
Pictures by Conor Trawinski & Philipp Weber
Research by Conor Trawinski, Philip Weber,
Barbara Larcin & Kim Haagen
Text by Conor Trawinski, Philip Weber & Kim haagen
Grapical layout by Elif Ozbay
Together with Conor Trawinski, Barbara Larcin and Philipp Weber we researched the neighborhood Oud Woensel in Eindhoven. It is a neighborhood that will be demolished in 8 phases which started in January 2012.
In order to get a understanding of the neighborhood we started our research with a very broad approach which allowed us to slowly get to know Oud Woensel. With time we went from talking with the organisations in Oud Woensel to talking to the individual inhabitants.
After several months of photographing interviewing observing and filming we narrowed our findings into one direction. We wanted to get an understanding of what the period of moving itself entails as moving - or leaving your home - starts many months prior to the actual physical move itself and does not finish until many months after. Participatory research was the most fitting method for us to work with. We hoped to create a service for inhabitants during this unstable period and a tool for us which would allow us to answer our research questions.
We decided that helping people to relocate from their home would be an ideal approach in Oud Woensel during this period of change. Using moving as a 'tool' we integrated ourselves in the area on a physical level which allowed us to get closer to the psychological and emotional effects on the inhabitants brought on by the change that has been forced on them. It allowed us to become part of their personal lives from which we could draw stories that would give us grounds to base our research on.
Our role as researchers was much less obvious and was taken over by the role of movers. As it turns out a 'mover-researcher' is accepted much quicker than just a researcher. We moved home for two families and met both of them afterwards to see how it was to settle into a new area with new surroundings.
Beneath this text is the link to the book we created in which we explain the course of our research and the results we found.