Houses for Whom?: Between the Habitat and the Inhabiting, on Henri Lefebvre’s Quest (original) (raw)

In this communication we will analyse the concepts of habitat (which stems from a morphological description) and inhabiting (an activity, a situation), having as main reference the thinking of Henri Lefebvre. We will analyse two of the main actors of this process: the architect, who builds a space, and the individual who will live in it. For that, we oppose one of the main concepts from the Modern Movementthe concept of function, which aims for an almost total rationalization of spaceto the idea of appropriation, a key notion in the approach of space from sociology and anthropology. We will present some examples of different forms of space appropriation that reflect two levels of analysis: Appropriation at the individual-familiar level and Appropriation enclosed in a totality. These examples help us think about the dichotomy between lived-spaces and built-spaces, and to gain awareness of the importance of architecture as mediator of an established society or as creator of a new society.