Home- The Space that Shapes 'Us': Exploring the socio-cultural potential of domestic thresholds

Abstract

Home- The Space that Shapes ‘Us’: Exploring the socio-cultural potential of domestic thresholds. How can the re-imagination of domestic space foster social wellbeing within the intergenerational immigrant household in New Zealand? Sociality, spatiality and culture are woven together in the fabric of our homes. The thesis positions itself at an intersection between these dimensions to seek answers to an age-old pursuit of wellbeing. The foundational premise of the thesis is that our worldviews, socio-cultural values, spatial choreographies, and body-space relations are each in their own way sui genesis. Such as we are idiosyncratic beings, the perceptions of social and relational wellbeing is diverse and many. This beautiful quality of idiosyncrasy adds a richness to our existence, and it is also this beautiful quality of idiosyncrasy that presents architecure with the challenge to understand and mediate socio-cultural conflicts and disagreements. We find such social tensions are significantly heightened within intergenerational immigrant households as imported and local socio-cultural desires manifest simultaneously under one roof. As an intensely multicultural nation with a comparably short history of immigration, these tensions are palpable and still very raw in New Zealand. Throughout this thesis I will answer this question of how architecture can foster a sense of wellbeing within the conflictual socio-cultural context of an East Asian intergenerational immigrant household. We will find how the social, temporal, sensorial and perceptual dimensions are intricately intertwined within the threshold articulations of our homes. How they anchor our everyday rituals and domestic choreographies, and present the powerful ability to mediate socio-relational experiences between household members. The final proposal of this thesis is a design methodology, rather than a single design solution. The context of the intergenerational household is employed as an investigative vehicle for the conclusive discovery of a socio-culturally sensitive design process.