Between Wandering and Residing

Abstract

What does it mean to be human? People are truly incredible creatures, capable of learning, communicating, growing, healing, designing, and most basically and beautifully, living. According to Martin Heidegger, the human’s purpose in living is to dwell as an integral part of the world she is immersed in. For this reason, dwelling became the prime focus of this thesis. Understanding how people dwell is infinitely important in learning to design for them and the world they live in. This thesis explores how humans dwell in place, which is created through bodily experiences with the physical world made meaningful through cultural or personal understanding. The inherent temporariness of human dwelling is accepted but understood as able to occur in different manners. Dwelling-as-residing refers to “being somewhere in particular,” being not only at one’s destination, but fully immersed in it. Consequently, dwelling-as-wandering occurs as one is between places, in which displacement is more apparent than implacement. A third mode of dwelling, defined in this thesis as “dwelling-as-lingering,” happens somewhere between wandering and residing. By lingering in place, one creates a momentary center along his journey rather than being completely between places or totally immersed in one place. Through a process of discovery involving place and dwelling research, people/site studies and narrative explorations, this thesis concludes with an investigation of temporary dwelling places designed for family members with hospitalized relatives. In-depth narrative explorations allowed interventions to be designed around people’s momentary interactions and relationships that could occur and develop within the existing houses used. The dwelling focused on was somewhere between wandering and residing, as people momentarily created placial centers along journeys through their family members’ illnesses.