This twin house for a dancer and an astronaut was inspired by Maurice Blanchot's book 'The Unavowable Community'. The design seeks to assess whether it is possible in this day and age to conceive a space for shared experience. In it Wubbo Ockels, the Dutch astronaut, and Jacqueline Bongers, the dancer, are given the roles of the future occupants. At first sight these two differ profoundly in what it is that motivates them. From conversations with both occupants it transpires that there are major similarities between them too. Both, for example, are fascinated by wind and water. The houses stand on either side of a dike (Schaardijk) at the point where the River Maas enters Rotterdam. For the astronaut Wubbo Ockels the prime components of the programme are a research laboratory, a water basin, a library and sleeping quarters. For the dancer Jacqueline Bongers these are a dance space, a library and once again sleeping accommodation. Personal enthusiasms of theirs join with these components as the major departure-points for the design. Research done at the European Space Agency elicited the curious discovery that travellers in space have to learn to dance so as to be able to move better in a weightless state. This snippet of information proved to be the clue to the design as a whole. Drawing on both wind and water, the astronaut uses technology to enable him to have dancing lessons from his terpsichorean fellow resident. He then returns to his own quarters to put his newly acquired skills to use in the simulated state of weightlessness in the water-filled basin. Institution: Rotterdam Tutors: Bart Lootsma & Maurice Nio Specialization: architecture