Swarm society 

When blockchain becomes the main means of data storing, subjective offline information will have to be verified to be forever stored in the objective chain of blocks online. People will be stimulated to constantly watch each other, creating a world in which activities are done in unison. On the one hand this will make people more communicative than they have ever been, while at the same time making them wary for their every move. Making one misstep, verified by the community, will forever chain you in blocks. 

This project seeks to hypothesize what this blockchain future could mean for housing and urbanism of the future. 

The project is situated in de Kadijken, a neighbourhood in the old city centre of Amsterdam, chosen for it’s diversity in use, inhabitants and future. On a current parking lot and petrol station I propose to place a multifunctional housing block, co-housing 140 inhabitants. This building will be divided in 3 main parts. First, the living area which will consist of 20 clusters, each having 7 bedrooms with a shared pantry and living room. This is where people will be offline, disconnected from the blockchain. Secondly, the 2 data-heavy floors. This is where townhall meetings with inhabitants will take place during which everyone can discuss their concerns and thoughts on an egalitarian basis. These discussions will be stored in the blockchain and will help the community know in which direction they are going as a whole. This is particularly convenient for the thirds part of the building, which consists of large floors which can house any function deemed necessary by it’s inhabitants. 

The surrounding landscape is based on informal communication, creating different places for people to interact with or retract from others. From here passers-by can get a sneak peak of the activities going on inside, attracting them so a similar way of life.