A case study analysis of attached housing design according to themes of the lifeworld

Abstract

This thesis analyzes case studies of attached housing design according to principles derived from the philosophy of phenomenology; principles referred to as themes of the lifeworld. The lifeworld is the term given by phenomenologists to a person's personal, everyday perceptions of the world in which he or she lives. The lifeworld encompasses a person's relationship with him or herself, other people and the physical world in which he or she lives. It includes the moods, feelings and impressions that are associated with these relationships. Though each person's lifeworld is a personal and subjective affair, phenomenologists have discovered themes that are common to the lifeworlds of almost all people regardless of region or culture.

This study concentrates on the themes that are common to people's perceptions of the physical world. It employs these themes in the analysis of examples of attached housing design in order to demonstrate that design principles developed through the philosophy of phenomenology can indeed be discovered in the real world.

Such a demonstration is important because if the claims are true that phenomenology seeks out and establishes itself on an accurate understanding of how people experience the world, then a design approach informed by this understanding is more likely to result in thriving, livable environments than those approaches that exclusively emphasize visual imagery, the satisfaction of functional objectives or the fulfillment of pre-conceived design paradigms.