O que faz da casa uma casa: a adaptação do espaço da casa às formas de habitar contemporâneas

Abstract

the ages, the composition and construction of buildings was based on the prevailing style, which defined the dimensions and organization of spaces, the materials and the type of decorations. From the 20th century on, those rules started to be questioned and rejected by the architects that started designing without the aid of pre-defined models. Additionally, particularly after the industrialization, the everyday life suffered transformations, not only in social structures, but also with the emergence of new technologies. The main alterations were in the relations between people, the rhythms of life, the ways of leisure, work and consuption. Both these factors influenced the way of creating and living the house, that today, however, doesn't seem to fit in completely with the needs of the dwellers. This is the main reason for the question 'what makes the house a House?'. What are the new realities of everyday life and how is architecture altering its production of the house to serve them is what we're searching for with this dissertation. Thereunto, we start with a theoretical approach, to which follows the observation based on experience. Then, the evolution of the house and the acknowledgement of the various family types who occupy it precede a study of contemporary residential architecture. We're searching for 'the adaptation of the house's spaces to the contemporary ways of dwelling', and this is the sequence of studies and observations that allow us to identify strategies and options which may contribute to a more versatile design of the house. Besides this, the main objective of this work is, ultimately, to evince how the house is the result of the encounter between spaces, people and objects and, therefore, changes with the conception of some and the will of others.