| Popis: |
Throughout time settlement patterns have changed radically, influenced by many different motives of migration. Settling may be regarded as a nuanced process where ever-changing material and sociological conditions affect individual priorities towards potential settlement (Andersen & Nørgaard, 2018). A recent shift has been identified, for example among some families and elderly people who favour the countryside over cities, coinciding with increased demands for space accelerated by digitization and work-from-home routines (Jensen & Levinsen, 2021). As a result, rural areas are being transformed through construction of new buildings and renovation of existing ones, challenging the functions, identities, and characteristic qualities of rurality.Such patterns of settlement relate closely with our individual social performances (Simmel, 1903; Goffman, 1959) which are particular to the specific setting and the way we interact with it. Likewise, the notion of spatial gestures and principles discusses the effect of the built environment (Hvejsel, 2011; Hvejsel, 2018) on body and space. Hence the “landscape of affordances” originates from the conjunction between the individual and its environment (Rietveld & Kiverstein, 2014). Thus, we ask which aspects of the physical setting affect our individual relation to space and each other, and how these may be interpreted in a rural context? This question prompts a critical re-reading of the qualities afforded by rural living and how these qualities may be used in the ongoing development of the built environment.This experimental study investigates the relation between human and architecture by developing a theoretical position linking the concepts of affordance, micro-sociology, interiority, and tectonics to the subject of rurality. Analysing three observed cases of rural settlements; An abandoned farm, a transformation project, and a new residency from an interdisciplinary architecture/urban design perspective, provides additional insights into the sensorial, material, and social qualities of rurality. |
