Inhabiting the present: The house, the collective dwelling and the city (original) (raw)
Related papers
Housing, Theory and Society, 2020
The boundaries between domestic and urban environments are increasingly blurred. Until the contemporary era, the house acted as aquite autonomous microcosm and the city as its receptacle, but today this distinction is not so sharp. Various changes are transforming both domestic and urban life. Many activities, events and rituals usually associated with domestic space today take place often outside, scattering the home throughout the city. Meanwhile, domestic environment is increasingly accommodating some urban functions, changing its traditional meaning and giving rise to hybrid situations. Domestic and urban environments are merging in asymbiotic way; it is then necessary to rethink their spaces in order to respond to their contemporary and future evolutions. The paper aims at introducing the main facts about the contemporary blurring of the boundaries of domestic and urban space, explaining how this is currently affecting the architecture of both the house and the city.
A Research Drawn on Housing and the City. A Conversation with Orsina Simona Pierini
ZARCH, 2023
, focus on the historical interpretation of the city's architecture from the perspective of design. Her knowledge of the role of the dwelling in urban planning stems from the systematic study of the different expressions of habitation in contemporary European cities, as well as from specific research focused on modern Spanish architecture and Milanese residential constructions, with particular attention to the relationship between the dwelling and the city. Her interpretation of these phenomena is, therefore, transversal as it involves various different scales and addresses the critical-historical sphere; it's also a means to define design methods that respond to the needs and demands of current habitation.
Amaneceres domésticos: temas de vivienda colectiva en la Europa del Siglo XX / Domestic Dawns: Collective Housing Issues in 21st century Europe, 2022
Addressing research on architecture seems to always be a question of taking a stance on one of the two fields of intellectual production, either scientific or humanistic. In our minds as practical working architects the conflict then arises: the bipolarity of not belonging — or not wanting to belong — to any definite territory. We feel comfortable in the neutral zone, in the interval of ambiguous practice and, therefore, of the absolute possibility. When we put forward our research, and even more so if it is in an institutional structure or it is exposed to external qualification, our double personality appears, critical or practical, pragmatic or utopian, and with perseverance and intuition we produce explorations whose ultimate end is to find their place in this dual epistemological panorama. Researching, in the last instance, is nothing but performing intellectual and experimental activities in a systematic way with the purpose of widening the knowledge of a particular subject. Researching on collective housing allows us to come closer to society as an object of study and to produce results that are new forms of knowledge about it. Housing buildings, as physical entities, exercise their function in multiple and interactive fields. They are entities that create structure because they are environmental modifiers which exercise their influence on social, cultural, urban environments and also on the economic. All these fields can be analysed separately but the form built in itself unifies them so they interact productively. The research on inhabiting architecture must be aware of these interactions between intellectual fields which traditionally have felt separated. The research we present in this case is centred on location, analysis and processing of concepts and examples about European contemporary collective housing, dispersed in specialised publications, which constitute the theoretical operative frame of current residential architecture. The purpose is to produce a network of conceptual connections or tags linked to specific hubs of theoretical production in the European geography which is achieved from the analysis of built projects and published texts. Abordar la investigación en arquitectura parece ser siempre una cuestión de posicionarse en uno de los dos campos de la producción intelectual, la científica ola humanística. En nuestras cabezas de arquitectos de labor práctica surge entonces el conflicto, la bipolaridad de no pertenecer –o no querer pertenecer–a ningún territorio definido. Nos encontramos cómodos en la zona neutra, en el intervalo de la práctica ambigua y, por tanto, de la posibilidad absoluta. Cuando planteamos nuestras investigaciones, y más si es dentro de una estructura institucional o expuesta a calificación externa, aflora nuestra doble personalidad, crítica o práctica, pragmática o utópica, y con perseverancia e intuición producimos exploraciones cuyo fin último es encontrar su sitio en este panorama epistemológico dual. Investigar, en última instancia, no es otra cosa que realizar actividades intelectuales y experimentales de modo sistemático con el propósito de aumentar los conocimientos en una determinada materia. Investigar en vivienda colectiva nos permite acercarnos a la sociedad como objeto de estudio y producir resultados que son nuevas formas de conocimiento de esta. Los edificios de vivienda, como entidades físicas, ejercen su función en campos múltiples e interactivos. Son entidades que estructuran, al ser modificadores ambientales que ejercen su influencia en el medio social, cultural, urbano y también en el económico. Todos estos campos pueden ser analizados de forma separada pero la forma construida en sí misma los unifica de modo que interactúan productivamente. La investigación en arquitectura del habitar debe ser consciente de estas interacciones entre campos intelectuales que tradicionalmente se han sentido separados. La indagación que en este caso presentamos se centra en la localización, análisis y procesamiento de conceptos y ejemplos sobre vivienda colectiva europea contemporánea, dispersos en publicaciones especializadas, que constituyen el marco teórico operativo de la arquitectura residencial actual. La finalidad es producir una red de conexiones conceptuales o tags ligada a focos de producción teórica específicos de la geografía europea que se obtiene a partir del análisis de proyectos edificados y textos publicados.
Sustainable Dwelling. Between Polyvalence and Empowerment, 2019
In a context of increasing individualization of our societies, dwelling has developed to become largely a personal feat. Hence, housing can no longer be considered exclusively from a traditional household perspective. Given this context, a combined analysis – both spatial and social - of several housing projects was carried out by researchers in architecture and the humanities. Two projects - La Sécherie in Nantes and Kalkbreite in Zurich - were selected for their use of a particular conception principle: ‘reduction/extension’. This principle implies organizing a dwelling between two poles: a reduced domestic nucleus and a series of additional spaces. Based on this principle, a multiplicity of dwelling configurations can be imagined. All are grounded on the idea that living could take place beyond the traditional limits of housing. Combined with a spatial analysis, a post-occupancy exploration was carried out in both projects, shedding light on the constraints but also the potential of the ‘reduction/extension’ principle. The benefits of this ‘reduction/extension’ principle are twofold. First, dwelling can evolve given the constellation of possible housing configurations. Second, inhabitants are able to make their own dwelling choices. This combination of domestic polyvalence and dwellers’ empowerment is a key for sustainable housing designs.
Reinhabitating, the house, the street and the city
Cities in transformation. Research & Design, 2012
Reinhabiting, the house, the street and the city Introduction: Reinhabiting is a research project that considers existing buildings and public spaces in Spain as opportunities for a new approach to the way we inhabit them. The word involves inhabiting again, in an intensive simple manner, rethinking how spaces can be used-more than undertaking unnecessary alterations. The term "reinhabiting" was developed by Habitar, a research group of the Catalan Polytechnic University UPC, during the years 2010 and 2011, in the context of a R & D project which results where shown in 6 exhibits at Nuevos Ministerios Gallery of Madrid. The project had funding from the Ministry of Housing. The index of the exhibits was defined by 9 themes, episodes, which have become 9 small books. The contents of all exposures can be consulted on-line () and we encourage their observation parallel to the reading of this text. This article will be focused on the proposals that emerged during the preparation of project and will develop the theoretical framework and architectural context from which they arose.
The theme of inhabiting in high-density buildings has been widely investigated since the Mid-Twentieth century. Still, original researches are now opening new perspectives, creating a common ground in which urban planning and architecture increasingly intersect with studies based on participation, urban policies and spatial justice. The failure of some of the iconic Twentieth-century architectures rose a strong debate that often resulted in their demolition. This process was primarily dictated by market logic, by a change in the residents and, above all, by the lack of all the services needed to build a community. Some experimental alternatives to replacing neglect building complexes have emerged especially in France and Northern Europe. The paper presents a selection of residential projects by Lacaton & Vassal, Mikhail Riches and LAN (Local Architecture Network), which use architectural drawings to propose innovative solutions to local administrations, as well as to initiate planning processes involving resident communities.
This call for papers concerns social housing, a rapidly changing and significant field for those who practice architecture, landscape architecture and spatial planning. Present throughout Europe at various levels, from 4% in Romania to 32% in the Netherlands, social housing heavily contributes to urban renewal. Through its material and non-material renovation, as well as the evolution of meanings, stakeholders and populations, new dynamics emerge that influence architectural, urban and landscape forms, modes of living and careers in spatial production. This volume seeks to identify and decode these dynamics through the following three axes.
Life on Two Locations: „a Sense of Place“ and How to Connect the Old and the New Homes
This paper is based on in-depth interviews with three informants who are living on two locations – in a fl at and in a summer cottage, or in a fl at and in an old family house respectively. It discusses the qualitative concept of the living space (home). It deals with questions about the relationship between one’s identity and living space (home), as well as of the change in roles, quality and the way of life related to the specifi c location (the old or the new homes), through permanent interfusion and comparability between the old and the new homes. „The sense of place“ (home) is seen as a social construction, as a place of living, feeling, sharing, performing one’s rituals, reviving the tradition, as well as a place of one’s personal remembrances.
The domestic city. Expansion of the domesticity in the contemporary city
The boundaries between domestic and urban environments are increasingly blurred. Until the contemporary era, the house acted as aquite autonomous microcosm and the city as its receptacle, but today this distinction is not so sharp. Various changes are transforming both domestic and urban life. Many activities, events and rituals usually associated with domestic space today take place often outside, scattering the home throughout the city. Meanwhile, domestic environment is increasingly accommodating some urban functions, changing its traditional meaning and giving rise to hybrid situations. Domestic and urban environments are merging in asymbiotic way; it is then necessary to rethink their spaces in order to respond to their contemporary and future evolutions. The paper aims at introducing the main facts about the contemporary blurring of the boundaries of domestic and urban space, explaining how this is currently affecting the architecture of both the house and the city