Transpace : an architectural intervention for people in transition

Abstract

Identity, belonging and being are some of the aspects inventively explored in this document. In times of fundamental change, people tend to find a space, lose it and then find another space as life and the world transform around them. What does this metamorphosis entail and in what ways are we affected by it? How do we live through it and what may we become on our journey towards each other, particularly when the space and places from which we depart are – at least on the surface – so vastly different? Within our voyages of transitional discovery, we too often repudiate the underlying structure from which our values, norms and standards are born – the configuration of beliefs that, when being threatened, results in conflict, bringing forth anger and dispute. The proposed discourse initiates another way of being by concretizing phenomenological philosopher Martin Heidegger’s notion of dwelling. It furthermore explores the contributions made by American architect Christopher Alexander, indicating important ways in which Heidegger’s dwelling can be translated into more grounded architectural meaning. Within the urban context, the design addresses these fundamental structures of being and the predicaments experienced between people and place.