TY - JOUR
T1 - Thinging Architecture:
T2 - Architectural Affordance in Community-Making
AU - Madsen, Mette My
AU - Corlin, Anne
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Though mundane things such as potted plants, doormats or Christmas lights are an unavoidable part of residential life in many neighbourhoods, their importance for community-making is rarely taken seriously in architectural design. This article shows how decorations in the transition zones from private to public domains play a pivotal role in informal community-making among residents in Danish social housing, as they offer a highly social though indirect way of negotiating atmospheric and communal expectations and coherences. Analysing empirical cases from three typologically different housing estates, we argue that the architectural design heavily influences the extent to which residents can form communities through things. Combining material culture theory and design theory, the article promotes the concept of thinging architecture as a means of categorising and identifying architectural elements/design that affords residents community-making through things. The article concludes that thinging architecture should play a crucial role in the design of social housing to enable a strong communal life.
AB - Though mundane things such as potted plants, doormats or Christmas lights are an unavoidable part of residential life in many neighbourhoods, their importance for community-making is rarely taken seriously in architectural design. This article shows how decorations in the transition zones from private to public domains play a pivotal role in informal community-making among residents in Danish social housing, as they offer a highly social though indirect way of negotiating atmospheric and communal expectations and coherences. Analysing empirical cases from three typologically different housing estates, we argue that the architectural design heavily influences the extent to which residents can form communities through things. Combining material culture theory and design theory, the article promotes the concept of thinging architecture as a means of categorising and identifying architectural elements/design that affords residents community-making through things. The article concludes that thinging architecture should play a crucial role in the design of social housing to enable a strong communal life.
KW - social sustainability, material culture, social housing, thinging architecture
KW - community-making,
M3 - Journal article
VL - 36
SP - 61
EP - 88
JO - Nordisk Arkitekturforskning - Nordic Journal of Architectural Research
JF - Nordisk Arkitekturforskning - Nordic Journal of Architectural Research
IS - 2
ER -