What is a house?



Housing combinations

Today housing is a problem. Several different groups of people are trying to solve this problem by using their field of interest. But what if all the extisting possibities aren't sufficient and what when the fields of interests are to devided to become one solution. In today's architecture there are still many possibilities but they have to be develloped and tested in combination with the people who are going to live in these houses. All dwellers have different needs and want different thing of their house. Is it possible to make different combinations of housing types that are available or that are developped.

Housing or dwelling?

“The different forms taken by dwellings are a complex phenomenon for which no simple explanation will suffice” Amos Rapoport. Form and culture (1969).

So, the factors that differentiate a dwelling of another are so wide that it becomes impossible to extract any standard. To start understanding what a dwelling is, the first thing we should know is who the dweller is. But every single group of people (family) in the world could be the dweller, because they are all different.
Even so it’s possible to establish groups with similar necessities generated by the “SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS”. And that could help to establish different types of houses, but not different types of dwellings, because a house isn’t a dwelling until the dweller come to live in it.“A dwelling is only a dwelling, not when it has a certain form, not when it fulfils certain conditions, which have been written down after long study, not when certain dimensions and provisions have been made to comply with municipal by-laws, but only and exclusively when people come to live in it.” N.J.Habraken. Suports. An alternative to Mass Housing, 1961 (1972).

Then architects design houses, and they are able to make dwellings just when the dwellers participate in the designing, constructing and modifying process.

In conclusion, must a HOUSE adapt to each dweller in order to be the perfect HOME?

What is vernacular housing, today?

In the past, vernacular architecture was only type of housing in the world. We are talking about simple houses, usually built by own , using available materials, dont care about fashion and what is modern, it just has to ensure safety and defend from bad climate conditions... Just simple to have ´a roof above head´. Nowadays, because of developing new types of technologies,materials and products is more and more difficult find examples of vernacular architecture all over the world.. Does it exist still at all? Does exist ´contemporary vernacular architecture´?

What are the relevant issues with regard to housing for the “architectural profession”, today?

At the end of 20 century our society has undergone a profound transformation, social forms are no longer identifiable and individuals are forced to stay in a constant update.This phenomenon called by Zygmun Bauman as "liquid society" is a disadvantage for the architect because knowing the dweller is essential in order to project properly.

The architecture, like many other disciplines, should be a reflection of our society, therefore its imperative to understand how society is structured. Architects have left behind the study of housing in favor of a more impersonal architecture, the result is that individuals no longer live but are housed.

Which is the dweller today?

In the past, society was defined in specific groups with specific characteristics; according to Atelier Kempe Thill, in their article "Specific Neutrality", society would split in new and big subgroups with their own expectations regarding home. Today, the dweller has become an unknown character to the architect, this happens for many reasons, one of them is the mobility; "society is becoming more and more dynamic", what makes the time to live in a house go down to 3 - 5 years, and eliminating the strong relations that existed between the dwellers and the place and neighborhood they live in.The architect's job isn't related directly to the dweller anymore, it consists in designing a façade and organizing floor plans generically, suitable for anybody, which is the same as designing for nobody; a contradictory idea in times when dwellers are developing more specific needs.

Sheila Ferniza

Tk1_Description

The questions to address in this assignment are the following:

- What is “vernacular” housing, today?
- What does “domestic” mean, today?
- Which is the “dweller”, today?
- What is considered to be a “house”, today?
- In which ways the sense of “belonging” can be reinforced, today?
- What are the relevant issues with regard to housing for the “architectural profession”, today?
- In which ways can “technology” be a driving force for the transformation of housing, today?
- In which way the “economic” system determines housing, today?