Abstract:
This study explores the potential of using Henri Lefebvre’s spatial triad
as a qualitative decoding tool for architect-designed residential interior
spaces. Five selected residential case studies by South African architect
Norman Musgrave Eaton are decoded according to the three domains of
this triad, namely Representations of Space, Spatial Practice and
Representational Space. The spatial triad also organises the
methodological triangulation of archival sources, photographic analysis,
the phenomenological coding of resident interviews and questionnaires.
The theoretical framework and historical context introduce the study,
specifically focusing on the relationship between the spatial triad,
Pretoria Regionalism as it relates to Eaton, and the components of
interior architecture. Each domain of the spatial triad is explored as a
separate chapter starting with the Representations of Space as the
architect’s intent; Spatial Practice as the physical space; and finally,
Representational Space as the user-interpreted experience. In these
chapters the components of interior architecture in the associated data
set are identified, examples of the identified components are compiled
into a graphic compilation and subsequently themes and textures are
deduced. It concludes with a summary of Eaton’s approach to
residential interior space with associated examples of the components
of interior architecture, as it relates to specific domains.
The study confirmed that Lefebvre’s spatial triad can be used to decode
architect-designed residential interior spaces, where each domain of the
triad highlights unique spatial aspects not identifiable in the other
domains. It emphasises that the components of interior architecture
comprise the parts that make up an interior space, where the spatial
triad has the power to define the relationship between the parts. The
analysis of Eaton’s work also provides examples of regional translations
of the universal components of interior architecture.
Key words
components of interior architecture; Norman Eaton; Pretoria
Regionalism; residential interiors; spatial textures; spatial triad; spatial
themes.
