Research + Book: ‘Feeling at Home’ In Amsterdam
Narrative
Our starting point
Homes were once a provision, a shelter. Providing the feeling of safety, stability, belonging and inspiration. Today, they are more often a financial tool, a commodity for city officials, developers and owners alike. This fact has altered the meaning of our domestic spaces. Currently, there is a pressing need to build more homes in the city, and this also puts an extra pressure on Amsterdam’s new domestic spaces. As a result, they are becoming smaller and less flexible, and their architectural design and materialisation often uninspiring. The narrative of the home in Amsterdam is at risk of getting lost along the way.
Today, the architectural profession rarely has the time to have a larger discussion on how we should be building homes in the city. We design relying heavily on common construction methods, restrictive building regulations and the personal preferences of those looking to make a profit. All at the expense of the end user. The pace of innovation on housing design has difficulty catching up with societal changes. The result is a mismatch between the contemporary urban dwelling and the society it intends to accommodate.
As the narrative of home becomes increasingly challenged by the pressures of time and money, we want to recall and expose the importance of story, identity, and emotion in modern housing design. We question whether the emotional value of ‘feeling at home’ is adequately incorporated into modern domestic architecture. And whether these values could feature more prominently in building regulations and policy-making mechanisms.
image: Pieter de Hooch, Woman with Child in a Pantry, c.1656-1660
image: Marcel van der Burg, Home of David en Marjanne, 2016
Feeling at home, what does it mean to us?
‘Feeling at home’ is a complex emotion. It relates directly to one’s understanding of the world and their place in it. It is very personal, and yet, strongly tied to the values, established aesthetics and rituals of a society. The feeling of home, rich and layered, starts from one’s own bed, reaching to their neighbourhood, city and finally the world. To better understand and discuss how this feeling is socially, psychologically and architecturally constructed, we break it down into three parts, each referring to an architectural layer of the home and the emotional value attached to it.
First is the exterior form of a house, understood as its proportions and scale, exterior features, facade materials and details. It contributes to the feeling of belonging, identity and pride. It is the urban image of a house and thus is also part of a bigger context. It connects the individual to a cultural collectivity and continuity, to their neighbours and ancestors.
Second is the structure and layout of a dwelling. It refers to its size, floor plan and construction. It determines how a house is used daily and over time. The house is the container of desires and rituals. Its structure and layout create a series of physical and psychological boundaries and possibilities for living. The types of spaces in a home, the connections between these spaces, and their adaptability in time, enable or limit the development of rituals that make us feel safe and familiar.
Interior atmosphere, the final and most personal layer of a house, is created by particular finishings, materials and details, and curated by light, sounds and warmth. It is a combination of sensations, not only physical, but also emotional and intellectual. It also speaks to one’s aesthetic values and sensibilities. Daily, it contributes to our comfort and mood, and on long term to our well-being and personal growth.
image: Cas Oorthuys, Woningbouwcomplex Sloterhof (architect: J.F. Berghoef), Amsterdam
Why now?
Domestic architecture in Amsterdam has broken from convention time and time again, producing some of the most qualitative, provocative and experimental homes in the world. It has embraced local and international trends and the products of industrialisation and modern technology. There are repeated architectural lessons that have evolved into cultural expressions of identity and have subsequently fed into the art of living here.
Currently, Amsterdam is facing the challenge to build 230.000 new homes over a period of twenty years. The city is demographically more diverse than ever; however social ties inside different communities are weakening and individualism is on the rise. And, just like in many other growing cities, there is a considerable increase in loneliness and social isolation; more and more people lack the possibility to feel part of a local community.
The discussions on the narrative of home and the quality of domestic architecture recently became even more relevant with Covid-19 spreading into our lives, forcing us to retreat into our homes quite abruptly. It encouraged us to reflect on and in some ways reinvent the way we perceive our private spaces. It also exposed the limitations of domestic buildings and further highlighted the demand for good-quality homes in the city.
Feeling at home doesn’t stop being important in the future. If anything, it has already become a more complex and interesting challenge for designers. As a result, it is vital that we design with a larger common vision and ambition, in order to support the future individual and the larger, more diverse population that contributes to and defines the city.
To buy the book “Feeling at Home in Amsterdam”, please send an email to info@studio-locus.com
In collaboration with Studio Pinar Balat
