THINGING ARCHITECTURE: ARCHITECTURAL AFFORDANCE IN COMMUNITY-MAKING

Though mundane things such as potted plants, doormats or Christmas
lights are an unavoidable part of residential life in many neighbourhoods,
their importance for community-making is rarely taken seriously
in architectural design. This article shows how decorations in the transition
zones from private to public domains play a pivotal role in informal
community-making among residents in Danish social housing, as they
offer a highly social – though indirect – way of negotiating atmospheric
and communal expectations and coherences. Analysing empirical cases
from three typologically different housing estates, we argue that the
architectural design heavily influences the extent to which residents can
form communities through things. Combining material culture theory
and design theory, the article promotes the concept of thinging architecture
as a means of categorising and identifying architectural elements/
design that affords residents community-making through things. The
article concludes that thinging architecture should play a crucial role in
the design of social housing to enable a strong communal life.