Join Julian Clin who shares PhD research in progress. Room KPTK101 and online (Teams)

Respondents: Ralitsa Genkova and Kenza El Boudour El Idrissi

Image credits: Rut Blees Luxemburg, “Meet Me in Arcadia” from: A Modern Project, 1996.

The Edge(s) of Home – Architecture, Poetics & Belonging in the City

The notion of home is a complex one; even more so in a dynamic, constantly changing, gentrifying city. In a famous essay, Doreen Massey equates home to “the product of the ever-changing geography of social relations.” Adding to that a loaded question mark in the essay’s title — “A Place Called Home?” (1992) — Massey challenges the very concept of place (and space) that is at the heart of home.

The main point of contention lies in boundaries, which are seen as inherently reactionary and exclusive. But do the built environment and architectural space really not factor into a sense of home? Is home not a defined, that is ‘bounded’, place? (De + finire, Latin: to draw boundaries.) Is there really no place called home in the city?

Building on the German idea of ‘Heimat,’ on Heidegger's “gathering fourfold,” and on contemporary London writing, in this talk I will seek to draw the edge(s) of home—that is, return boundaries to the concept—and begin to explore the role of architecture (and its poetic representation) in matters of belonging.