The Concept of Home and its Evolution or Expression in Design - Essay Example

? The Concept of 'Home' and Its Evolution or Expression in Design More than a roof above one’s head, a home transcends beyond the structure and even defines the core of being of its inhabitant. To define a home as a mere structure just as Heidegger defined a bridge to be there without factoring its circumstance, as merely existing only in its entirety and without consideration of its purpose is to fail to comprehend its nature in its entirety (1971). For a bridge does not only connect the chasms between divided lands and overlie the rift of rivers beneath it, but also to make transport possible and to make the concomitant human relations associated with it blossom and flower. In the same manner that a house does not only shelter nor protect one from the biting cold, but also enriches the individual; either by recreating memories incumbent in a home or by creating an environment that is safe and conducive to dreams and imaginations. The importance of home cannot be overrated. Even those whom we consider as homeless does in fact, contrived home to whatever means available to them with that their resource and circumstance could provide. In fact, home can be better understood in their deficiency and somewhat desperate condition which is a tremendous irony. In their plain conditions, it is easier to contrast what is their motivation of a home that we may easily discern what constitutes a home. These city dwellers which did not have the means to have their own homes were of course thrown out the street amid the frosting cold and the vagaries of the season. Sure it followed that the city government will provide shelter to its destitute citizen either for welfare and electoral purpose. But it is here we will understand that home is not structure, nor size, nor edifice, nor the sufficiency of provision. It is more than that which this paper will explore. But for the moment, suffice that we will identify what it is not. These putative homeless of New York could not have been homeless had it chosen to stay in government facilities. They left the facilities and chose to be homeless because these; “City-run shelters-though they provide food and respite from the elements-are dangerous and unfriendly places that impose a dehumanizing, even prisonlike, regimentation on residents. Guards routinely treat clients as inmates, allegedly denying them food for the violation of rules. Some shelter residents are abused from place to place for food, showers, and sleep. Charges of violence by shelter security guards and clients are common” (Lurie and Wodiczko 2009:54). In effect, these city dwellers were really “exiles in their own city” and only became homeless by choice opting to have “gaily decorated carts” as a means of transport and home than the established facility of the city due to the harsh condition impose to them by the institution that made it a penitentiary. They preferred to get by through the uncertainty of scavenging than putting up with city run shelters where foods are used as a carrot stick. This is not to glorify homelessness nor scavenging, nor the running away from government facilities but rather to stress that a meagre cart that can barely accommodate a person and absent of facility and provision can become a home compared to an imposing edifice that treat its inhabitants as inmates where violence and abuses are common. Perhaps, the inclemency of the streets and season or the precarious nature of getting provision of an unwelcoming street can become more tolerable than an unfriendly and dehumanizing institution. The homeless of New York only proved that home is not a place, but rather where the heart is or where you are comfortable with. Home does not have to be diminutive as what the cart dwellers of New York opted. It can also be functional and as elaborate as Heidegger’s Building Dwelling Thinking (1971) that can feed the soul. Unlike the homeless of New York who has to make do with make shift carts, home for Heidegger is not just a place to sleep and rest but also a dwelling where they can preserve the elements (called fourfold by Heidgger) essential to become a complete being. This includes building is dwelling and the way we dwell should be in accordance to the manner how mortals should live on earth. That is, staying with things that helps preserve human nature under the divinities of the sky that would cultivate growth and serenity (Heidegger 1971). Being such, a home is not just a house in the same manner that a bridge is not just a connection of two opposing chasms. Things, circumstances and relationships grow because of them. It is also the place where we insulate ourselves from the world. A refuge as Antonelli has elaborated, where we take shelter as we recuperate from the vagaries of life and to come out again not only to survive but also to conquer. Such, we put in elaborate mechanism that would ensure that we are safe when we take refuge in our homes, installing man made contrivances that is designed to protect us also from acts of God and war. For, perhaps the reason why we get a little extreme in recreating our sense of safety in our respective homes is because we subconsciously try to retreat to same feeling of security that our first real estate property that was provided to us when we are still in the womb of our mother. It does not matter what our station in life. In fact, this subconscious need for security in our homes can only get more elaborate depending on our resources. Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq built an elaborate underground home when threatened by the allied forces while CEO’s build their own type of safety rooms after the September 11 terror attack. Even the common residences in Israel have their own version of safety when they felt threatened by their neighbouring Arab countries. The need to be safe in our own homes is universal because the motivation to be safe is primitive. But home is not only a mere place to insulate ourselves from the world. A refuge where we can have a step back when ravage by life affording us the perspective of a bigger picture to better do when we engage again. Home transcends beyond the physical feature of an edifice. Home is not just a brick and mortar with elaborate mechanism for comfort and dwelling but in fact a universe by itself. It is a world where life take root, form, grow and blossom and perhaps even die and relive again. There, memories are created that adds up to the storage of dreams enriching the experiences of current recollections. Such, a house or a home is not only a shelter that we could dwell and insulate ourselves from the vagaries and inclemency of the season and life itself but also “shelters day dreaming, … protects the dreamer, … allows one to dream in peace” (Birot nd:6). A house is not only a contrivance of its several parts, materials, but an amalgam that can integrate thoughts, memories and dreams of mankind. “As it has been our first universe” (Birot nd: 5), it is our first real cosmos that illuminate and synthesize all the memories that the human mind has collected. Its collection of memories, are apart from the coldness of the outside world, and they are those that inspire and make the heart quiver. These are the memories that enrich our dreams which later translate to become our aspirations and hopes. Hopes and aspirations that later guides the action which in turn become another set of memory that will be again kept in the storage of dreams. And so the cycle of happy memories that feed the creativity begun, never ending, and each time reinforcing itself to maintain a full load inventory of positive memories. And perhaps this is the idea where a house became a home and why it is called as such that it ceased to be a mere structure. As Faults put it, perhaps it is just the nature of home, “it’s like a cycle or something” and you will never really fully appreciate it until you start your own (2005) Bibliography Antonellie, Paola Birot (nd). The house. From cellar to garret. The significance of the hut Heidegger, Martin (1971). Building Dwelling Thinking. Poetry, Language, Thought, translated by Albert Hofstadter, Harper Colophon Books, New York. Lurie, David V; Wodiczko, Krzysztof (2009). Homeless Vehicle Project. MIT Press, October, 47:53-67 Fulrts, Brad (September 28, 2005). What is Home? http://h3h.net/philosophy/what-is-home [accessed March 23, 2012) Read More