CONTENTSYear Design Report

Design Projects

Project 2.5 - Section Alley Project 2.4 - Civic Centred

Project 2.3 - Simplicity, Economy, Home

Project 2.2 - Placed, Displaced

Charette Week

Non-Design Projects

ARC2009 Access for All and Means of Escape (Project 2.4)

ARC2009 Structural Analysis (Project 2.3)

ARC2010 Energy Strategy Report (Project 2.3)

ARC2023 The Place of Houses

5. Alongside physically aiming to recreate features of the home in non-domestic spaces it is necessary to consider the transferability of memories associated with the home. Bachelard writes that ‘an entire past comes to dwell in a new house’ (Bachelard, 1994) suggesting that all of the vital functions of the home in terms of gaining social and cultural and learning behavioural norms are able to be brought for-ward, so although the built environment may have been altered the other functions of home can be recreated elsewhere through memory as they are not necessarily committed to a physical environment. This suggests that there is relevance in using concepts of home in non-domestic spaces as through memories the ‘various dwelling places in our lives co-penetrate and retain’ (Bachelard, 1994) the order and identity that home creates.

3. Both Saunders and Despres have suggested other ways of identifying the necessary criteria for creating a home environment.

(Despres, 1991) (Saunders, 1990) Like Bachelard, much importance is given to the continual presence of meaningful rela-tionships with family and friends. These relationships help to establish the home as a means of connectedness (Dovey, 1985) and so it could be argued that it is possible to create a feeling of home if these connections are brought beyond the domestic sphere. Simi-

larly, home as a social unit of space could also be partly measured in comfort and the opportunity for relaxation. This is an aspect that can be considered easily transferrable and is therefore a key method used to create a more comfortable, domestic environment in hospitals. For example, the redevelopment of the Middlesborough General Hospital tried to maximise comfort by providing lots of comfortable seating areas and destination spaces akin to living rooms. Similarly, Maggie’s Cancer Centres see build-ing ‘thoughtfully designed centres’ (www.maggiescentres.org) as a key part in creating a community of care and putting patients at ease. By providing traits widely recognised as belonging to the home, as shown by these organisations, it could be argued that there is relevance in attempting to reconstruct a feeling of domesticity.

Jenny Whitehead The Place of Houses: ARC2023 110154572 Word Count: 1541

Bachelard has written that “all really inhabited space bears the essence of the notion of home.” What is the relevance of concepts of home for non-domestic spaces? Can ‘home’ exist beyond the domestic sphere?

6. Similarly, the power carried by personal possessions must be considered so as to determine if home can exceed the do-mestic sphere. Objects and furnishings are an important aspect in the role of the home in communicating identity. Possessions can be easily transferred to different environments and so the prevalence that they carry partly determines if it is possible for home to be recreated. Tuan believes that possessions are able to act as a vessel for the compo-nents of home as they relate strongly to memories as personal objects can become ‘almost a part of ourselves.’ If it is true that it is in ‘smaller, more familiar things’ that ‘memory weaves her strongest enchant-ments’ then the lessons and values that are identified through the

1.Many non-domestic spaces such as hospitals and care homes for the elderly often try to replicate concepts more typically asso-ciated with the small scale, intimate home through making deliberate and conscientious decisions regarding both the architec-tural and interior design as well as spatial planning. Creating spaces in such a way therefore indicates that it is possible to recre-ate home outside of the domestic sphere and that doing so is a beneficial and relevant endeavour.

? 2.However, complexities in defining the idea of home, at whatever scale make it difficult to assess whether or not it is a concept that can be transferred beyond the immediate domestic sphere. Bachelard suggests that it is the process of inhabitation that differentiates the house from the home (Bachelard, 1994), but this is only one feature that could be considered to carry the ‘notion of home.’ Home has also been defined as an emotionally based and meaningful relationship between people and their environment (Dovey, 1985), yet is it possible to transfer some of the constituents of this relationship to non-domestic spaces? It is the ambiguity of measuring this social unit of space (Rapoport, 1969)that leave determining if home can be successfully recreated be-yond the domestic dwelling open to interpretation.

4.Yet there are many of these suggested criteria that are more difficult to continue outside of the conventional home. Perhaps it is the case that somewhere could be extremely comfortable and still be frequented by family and friends but if it is not somewhere you own and have

worked for can it still truly be considered home? Similarly, both Despres and Saunders both identify feeling secure and safe a key as-pect. This is unlikely to ever be an achievable sentiment in a hospital for example if there is a continued association of pain and sadness. Looking at defined categories in this way is then perhaps too arbitrary as some of the components are more unique to home than others. What is more, all individuals place value differently and will have different methods of attaching meaning to and organising space and place. (Tuan, 1977)

8.But, despite these limitations in the existence of home beyond the

domestic sphere, there is still relevance in using concepts of home in non-domestic spaces. The idea of home is highly subjective as the meaning of space constantly changes as individuals perceive and describe special relations differently in different situa-tions (Sack, 1980), meaning trying to recreate a generic home type is extremely difficult. However, it could be argued that even the process of using symbols of home is still a worthwhile effort in particular environ-ments, especially for example in health care environments. Seamon gives the example of the Palliative Care Service at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre, which like the redevelopment of the Middlesborough General Hospital, aimed to create a homelike envi-ronment through focusing on continued family contact and the provi-sion of comfortable meeting rooms away from treatment rooms. How-ever, instead of designing in this way to make a direct comparison to the small scale home environment Seamon recognises that merely the association to home is enough to have worthwhile benefits. Making reference to items or practices that are familiar to patients can en-courage a feeling of continuity that helps to ‘retain a stable and co-herent sense of self at a time of vulnerability.’ (Seamon, 1980) So alt-hough it may never be possible for home to exist in a hospital environ-ment it is still worthwhile making symbolic references to the home, whether it be a comfortable sofa or a painting, as the gesture is enough to create a tangible sensory image which suggests that pa-tients are in a safe place that is an integral component of promoting a sense of well-being.

7. However, the ability of personal objects to recreate aspects of home is somewhat compromised depending on the degree to which

home is place specific. Bachelard describes memories as ‘motionless’ that become sounder the more securely they are fixed in space. (Bachelard, 1994)This suggests that home is unique and the identity and order that we develop within the home is fixed to a particu-lar place. Therefore it could be considered a futile effort to try and replicate the home anywhere but the home itself. If this is true then the transferability of home is further diminished by how home provides order using time as a reference point. (Dovey, 1985)The more time that is spent in a place the more deeply intertwined with memories and connections it becomes thereby making home even more place specific as these particular memories and connections are only associated with a particular place.

9.To conclude, the wealth of literature trying to define the con-cept of home suggests that it is a polyvalent term. Hence it is difficult to establish if it is possible for home to exist beyond do-mesticity as each individuals perception of home is varied and open to interpretation, this proves particularly difficult for non-domestic spaces such as hospital and care homes that must be accessible to all. There are some aspects that typically make up the home environment that are more easily transferrable to oth-er spaces than others such as personal possessions, the relation-ships and people present and the provision of comfort. Howev-er, it is the degree of prevalence that the other components of this relationship have that determines if home can truly exist in non-domestic spaces. If home is genuinely place specific be-cause of the memories and complex relationships that become embedded in a particular place over time then a true feeling of home is contained to the domestic sphere. Yet, even if this is

true the intrinsic effort to ‘generate a certain homeliness‘ whenever creating space and place is not a wasted endeavour (Tuan, 1991). By making gestures towards the domestication of institutional space, such a hospitals, through creating physical surroundings that reflect and symbolise items and practices associated with the home can help evoke a sense of continuity and maintain a coherent sense of elf that promotes well-being, if perhaps not a com-plete feeling of being at home.

����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

home can occur elsewhere. This is a relevant concept in successfully creating a home elsewhere, for example if downsizing or moving to sheltered accommodation in old age where it would seem obvious to bring along objects such as ornaments and photographs. Given that humans intrinsi-cally have an ‘exceptionally refined capacity for symbolisation’ then it is the objects inside the house that create and differentiate the home for the individual inhabitants and therefore carry many of the functions performed by the home. (Tuan, 1977)

����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

1