Domestic spaces in the information era: architectural design, images and life in a technological age

Abstract

The aim of the research is to contribute to a critical interpretation of the multiple dimensions that shape the concept and the practice of contemporary living by analyzing the transformations that domestic space has experienced within the framework of the Information Society. The study emerges from the evidence that the changes that emerged due to the diffusion of information and communication technologies have originated a new social, economic and cultural paradigm that has deeply transformed the way in which contemporary domestic spaces are imagined, designed and lived. Deeply affecting life habits, these changes put into question the persistence of traditional conceptual models related to domestic space such as protection, intimacy, privacy and reproduction of consolidated family structures, recording the appearance of new interpretative categories with respect to private space and the activities developed there, such as connectivity, flexibility, ubiquitousness, transformability and mobile domesticity, among others. The research deals with four main aspects: a) the social and cultural context in which the contemporary debate on domestic space is situated; b) the historical context of the second half of the 20th century when various interpretations of dwelling were formulated in an era dominated by technology and information; c) a proposal to reformulate the concept of living from the perspective of becoming in light of functional transformations of contemporary domestic space epitomized by mediascapes, workspaces and bodyspaces; d) a proposed reading of the interpretative keys on the basis of which the informational house is imagined and designed in relation to the stimuli of objects and spaces, flexibility, digital design and sustainability. The research argues the multidimensionality and complexity of contemporary domestic space steming from both the growing diversity of the actors involved in its production and the variety of factors that influence it. In the culture of dwelling, the role of technology is not univocal and involves all stages of the process of design, construction and use of domestic space. Focusing on advertising and specialized media, the research highlights the role played by images in the construction of a collective imagination of the domestic. In discussing changes in the functional environment, the research highlights how the domestic plays an important role in domestication of technologies. Finally, the research underscores the need for a reformulation of the idea of domestic space within the scope of considering dwelling as an art of becoming, more in keeping with the zeitgeist of the Information Society.

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