The InTribe.me project won the House of the Future Today competition at Arch Moscow 2019 in the media choice category. Authors of the project Grigory Gavalidis from GAFA, Rustam Kerimov from ATOM ha and Stanislav Novi from sapiens.media - and together they proposed a project called InTribe. Me. Free translation of the name sounds like "include me in the tribe."
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zooming 1/4 Intribe. Me Project Team Courtesy of the authors
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zooming 2/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project Photo © Daniel Annenkov
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zooming 3/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project Photo © Daniel Annenkov
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zooming 4/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project Photo © Daniel Annenkov
The essence of the plot is in the development of a social service: "the service allows you to find soul mates for joint rent or purchase of housing, that is, first, future neighbors gather in the network, and only after that they act as a customer with a developer or a collective buyer / tenant," the authors explain, specifying: “We are moving away from the dictates of marketers, and we are coming to direct democracy and subcultural republics. We are solving such problems as: a new urban crisis, rising housing prices, shrinking housing space, empty apartments, growing social isolation."
The project is interesting for its practical orientation and multidisciplinarity: two architectural firms and one company of programmers have joined forces in it. Having talked to representatives of developers at the exhibition, the authors gained confidence that their development would be in demand in Russia. If this is the case and investors are found, it is possible that soon we will have a new facebook or telegram - a specialized social service that contributes to the formation of harmonious communities, cohousing, coliving, and ultimately more accurate analytics for development.
“We are expecting a new resettlement of peoples, intracity migration of residents, from the environment of spontaneous neighborhood, to communities of interest, created specifically for living together. Ultimately, this could become not only a new lease format, but also a purchase, creating open demand analytics for developers. And also to become a more sustainable way of existence, offering an answer to the new crisis of the city, solving the problem of social isolation and rising real estate prices, with the help of a collective wholesale purchase or lease of real estate,”the authors of the project clarify.
We spoke with three initiators of the InTribe project.
Grigory Gavalidis, GAFA architects
How did the project start for you?
In 2017, we, GAFA, featured in the NEXT program! on Arch Moscow, the installation "Residential Complex of the Future": a transformable house in the volume of which visitors could rearrange modules, which is why it was constantly changing. We then focused on the variety of requests of future tenants and the ability of the house of the future to adapt to them - imagine, you are an avid scuba diver and it is more important for you to have a small apartment and your own piece of the ocean, where you can dive and feed every morning, say, fish or watch life corals, instead of just a large apartment, or maybe it's more important for you to have your own vegetable garden on the 18th floor. With that project in mind, I was invited to curate the competition and the exposition about the "House of the Future Today" at the current Arch Moscow.
We reasoned something like this. Now, when buying an apartment, a person has little influence on anything: he chooses from the offers generated by marketers from what is sold. A marketer makes decisions based on his knowledge and rules, but he decides immediately after 800, say, a person - what they need. The person himself, buying an apartment, does not choose neighbors, does not know who will live nearby. Everyone has become very withdrawn, we communicate on social networks and meet very little in life. But - we thought - the same social media technologies that separate people can unite them in reality. Help find like-minded people, people who like the same thing as you: for example, running in the morning. Or people who are interesting to us; or those who can somehow help us in our work and with whom we could do joint projects.
What is the difference between your project and coliving?
There are many similarities, but our task is broader and our project is primarily devoted to the formation of communities, which can then either rent housing together or form a cooperative and build a home to their liking on their own, perhaps by hiring a developer - as is done in Austria or Switzerland, in many European countries. To some extent, in this way, it is possible to transfer power over the construction site to the people, to the community: so that the people decide what exactly is needed, the architect gives the form, and the developer builds.
In addition, our system can be useful for developers and marketers for market analysis: now the analysis is certainly done, but more superficially, without taking into account many factors. And no one considers the history of apartments after settling - how many were united, how many people live there and how, and so on. Our network will allow us to analyze the market for a larger number of parameters and know the needs of people more accurately, which means that it is better to plan and form non-standard technical specifications without risks, since it will immediately respond to demand.
While we are, of course, talking about some ideal conditions. Actually, there were no restrictions on the competition.
And yet, how do you assess the feasibility of your idea for Russia? Will it all end with the fact that you sell the application to the West, where the format of the communities is better formed?
Before Arch of Moscow, I would have answered this question differently. Indeed, there were doubts as to how well our idea would match the market conditions. Now I think differently. Developers approached us and we saw a genuine interest in the project. They said - oh, this is really cool and will help us form the terms of reference more competently.
In Russia, I think, our service will be useful like nowhere else: a lot of square meters are being built, it will help to sell too. After all, it is not the structure itself that is important, but its content. When we buy, for example, an iPhone, we are not happy with the hardware, but with the software: programs, information, pictures, games … It's the same here - we shift the emphasis from hard to software, from the shell to its filling.
I would say that the main idea of our project is openness and socialization, removal of social isolation. Now young people come mainly to odnushki and kopeck pieces, live separately, communicate in networks. Now it is more difficult to meet in real life than virtually, people get to know each other online, and then they meet. And no one will run on floors, knock on doors to find new acquaintances - it’s somehow awkward. And our network will help you find your soul mate nearby, even if you have already moved into a new home. We want to turn virtual reality into reality, so that people communicate more, meet, and socialize.
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zooming 1/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project. Courtesy of the press service of the Arch Moscow exhibition
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zooming 2/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project. Courtesy of the press service of the Arch Moscow exhibition
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zooming 3/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project. Courtesy of the press service of the Arch Moscow exhibition
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zooming 4/4 Project Intribe. Me. Stand at Arch Moscow 2019 within the framework of the "House of the Future Today" project. Courtesy of the press service of the Arch Moscow exhibition
People will be able to advance money for a completely specific plan to a developer who has a plot, and set tasks. And the filling of the first floors will be easier to plan, now we are making BCFN, premises without a specific functional purpose, and knowing the request more precisely, it will be possible to decide in advance what is needed here: shops, a restaurant, a children's club or atelier, and design accordingly.
Rustam Kerimov, ATOM ha
We have created a tool for the formation of a conscious neighborhood, in which we see the basis for the formation of a new architectural typology. It is based primarily on the principle of mixing: from functions to ownership. This will significantly expand housing options on a limited budget.
As an example, you can use such a form of ownership as an apartment. Everyone is accustomed to negative connotations: the apartments do not have the social infrastructure required by the city code for apartments. However, our service will help to rethink these theses. The format of apartments, in contrast to apartments, is more flexible, which will allow it to be filled with functional diversity and make it interesting and convenient.
Successful international experience inspired us to create prototypes of housing for different communities. It could be a community of musicians who rent a recording studio together. Or athletes who have formed their "tribe" around the stadium. It is important that this is a very mobile form, which is no longer limited to the city's territory. We even have a futuristic architectural solution for those wishing to explore Mars. Unlike coliving of the usual format, we consider not only leasing, but also joint construction, even in the first place. Homes can be inhabited by mixed types of communities, which is even better, since such interaction could give a start to new interesting projects. By communicating live, they will develop each other. There may be a community of families with children, they have their own needs. Such a house turns into a mini-city, into a rich urban center, it has everything. More precisely, there is everything that is needed specifically for this community or tribe.
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zooming 1/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
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zooming 2/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
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zooming 3/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
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zooming 4/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
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zooming 5/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
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zooming 6/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
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zooming 7/7 Intribe. Me: examples © GAFA, ATOM ha, sapiens.media
Communities can form not only in buildings under construction or ready-made houses, but also in unexpected or empty places - humanity has accumulated a huge amount of unused architectural heritage. By the way, we consider the preservation function to be one of the principles of the architecture of the future.
How do you assess the degree of utopianism of your project?
The idea may seem utopian, but we suggest starting with a simple one - by viewing the profiles of your future neighbors and recommendations from the service. We are now at the level of zero knowledge and simply propose to go to the first level, and the quality of selection and recommendations will improve, along with the replenishment of the database and the development of service algorithms. Already now it shows the percentage of profile similarity, but the choice is always up to the user - I think that a simple group of moderators will not be able to cope here - for a hybrid system, something in between CIAN, Tinder and facebook that will work. Now this idea is in the air, everyone is interested in communities, please note, even at the competition there were several similar projects [we are talking about the IND architects and Archimatika project, the first is about coliving, the second offers a network of homeowners that allows you to move freely around the world, me housing, - approx. auth.].
Everything is developing, once we used mail, then facebook and airbnb appeared … By the way, we recently discussed, this is what is interesting: airbnb, since there is an opportunity to leave reviews not only about housing, but also about residents, it encourages people to behave decently, to clean up for yourself, to break nothing. This is also a new step, it develops the ethics of travel.
A couple of years ago, I think, having received the theme “house of the future”, the majority would have worked in projects of energy efficient houses. Now - perhaps a generation has changed - everyone is interested in the topic of communities and social integration. While working on the project, I asked my friend Sergei Nikitin [culturologist, author of the popular Velonnight project and many other cultural programs, - approx. author] - “what do you think the house of the future should be like?”, and he replied: “The house of the future? - Communal! ".
So it’s probably time for us to re-master the ideas of communism or socialism, at a new round of capitalist development. In principle, this is the request of the post-industrial society.
Stanislav Novi, sapiens.media
We are neighbors with Rustam Kerimov in the Loft Garden apartments, and our relationship began with a sincere good-neighborliness - Rustam gave me the front door. After that, we began to communicate, and have long wanted to work together on some creative project. The exhibition was a good occasion.
We also started talking about the project in a neighborly way, in the common space of our house, in a cafe in the courtyard. Initially, the project looked like a questionnaire that forms a database of users' answers to questions about their preferences - in food, politics, religion, financial constraints. The first version can be seen at triberia.ru. Having agreed on a joint presentation and launch of the service for the exhibition, we decided to give the service a more architectural form: straight lines, black and white style, a top view familiar to architects and developers: intribe.me.
The original idea was to simply bring people with similar views together so that they could chip in on renting a home or space for work and creativity, such as a workshop. And it was inspired primarily by personal needs, as well as a vivid experience of living in similar communes in Israel, the United States and Europe. In the process of work, we carried out a large study of the foreign experience of coliving and co-building: now many houses are being created in Sweden in this way, the community acts as a customer.
How have your views on the project changed after the exhibition?
The exhibition showed a very positive perception of the idea and the model itself among a wide audience. Someone offered 12 hectares of land for the community, someone expressed a desire to organize a meeting with developers. The interior designers imagined how they could create interiors for the tribes.
The main question after the exhibition is how and with whom to make the first real case, with which developer. Assemble a community for a specific object, or create a project for a specific community.
How does your social network differ from the usual one - only by the presence of preferences for housing and interests at the same time?
I share the concepts of a social network and a service. A social network is a real network reflected in the virtual world, and vice versa. The service still solves a specific problem. And first, we need to become a high-quality social service that will solve the problem of finding like-minded people. Primarily for renting a home, or a workshop, or an office. This is the most understandable way and I am sure that in the next two months we will get the first thousand grateful users. And then we will develop communities, negotiate with developers, test such a model for the construction or sale of objects. So that people buy apartments in residential complexes and cottage settlements, focusing on the community that will live there.
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zooming 1/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 2/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 3/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 4/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 5/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 6/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 7/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 8/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 9/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 10/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 11/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 12/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 13/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 14/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 15/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 16/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 17/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 18/19 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
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zooming 19/19 Intro of the IN.tribe.me project, 2019 © GAFA Architects + ATOM ag
If everything is optional, then what is the probability that someone will live in the community and not use the network?
Perfectly! I believe that Internet services should respond to the needs of people as quickly as possible and not drag into the virtual world more than is required to solve specific problems. So if someone with the help of Intribe finds like-minded people and will happily live with them without going online, I will only be glad.
Who do you see as the main clients of the system: developers, apartment buyers, architects?
First of all, an ordinary user. If we can select quality communities and people, then developers and architects will catch up. But now we want to work out several cases both for rent and for collective purchase. For example, to gather a community and buy out a couple of entrances in some new house, in bulk, at a discounted price, so that common spaces on the ground floor can be made in this entrance.
Any social network involves a fairly heavy load on servers and moderation, this is not cheap. Where are you planning to start?
Yes, but while there are not many users, the network will develop at my expense. I have a couple of small businesses - a website development studio and an advertising exchange for bloggers. But in the future, of course, development will require funds wherever about the most. I am now actively looking for an investor for the network, preferably a large industry player who will be able to populate their properties with us in this way.
How would you outline the long-term perspectives of your system?
I see in this the skeleton of the society of the future, in which I personally believe. A distributed society, where the political functions of states are abolished, and the real structure of society will be a network of cities, which in turn will consist of a network of tribes - microcommunities, within which people will work, live and create. This will solve the problems of the simultaneously growing complexity and density of the world, the answer to which today is the revival of xenophobia and radical views. Such a model will avoid the suppression of communities that want to live by their own rules, by the will of the majority.
Today, in two clicks, we can order goods from the other end of the earth or remotely transfer huge amounts of money, but we still vote with pieces of paper in the ballot box every few years. I think blockchain and direct democracy can be the solution to this problem. Hopefully, if we manage to create effective tools and test them within microcommunities, we may be able to participate in improving the global society.
