Household Mythologies: Stories and Scenes from within the Domestic Sphere

Abstract

Household Mythologies explores the intersection of fiction, femininity and domestic space. The home has long been womens’ playing field: there, learning that feminine values include caring and appreciating everyday life. It has provided female authors a certain sensitivity to writing great stories set in the home, capturing the complexity of relationships of humans living together and their relations to space. The writer and architect are united in imagining and creating worlds and here the two are used to complement each other: The unveiling nature of fiction to access human needs and desires, combined with the creating force of architecture. Asking: How can fiction written from feminine narratives be used to inform domestic design? Feminine stories can bring some well needed nuance to the perception of the home in spatial discussion. Theory is based in acknowledging feminine ways of knowing: seeing subjectiveness, connectedness and valuing the everyday as objects of knowledge. The literary research uses six [more or less] fictional works to act as testimonies of domestic life, which is analyzed as an equally social and physical space. To translate the books into passages suitable for a thesis format they have been approached as a collection of scenes to be able to be interpreted in text and drawing. The literary research is sectioned into three chapters approaching femininity in different ways: otherhood, childhood and girlhood all recognize femininity as something learned in a girl’s life. Research is applied to the design project, a House for Two Girlfriends. A housing proposal which relates to and reflects on femininity and care. The result of literary analysis includes some important focus points in the design: the beauty of the everyday, a connectedness to things and acknowledging the social bonds created by giving and receiving care. The small apartment is designed for two girls taking their first leap into adulthood, arm hooked to a best friend with little money and a big appetite for living. The apartment is situated in an all female house to provide female alliances to be an integrated part of daily routine. It provides neighborliness in the unknown sphere of living outside a family setting for the first time. The main design question is to design private space where the girls can choose to care and connect by also designing for the freedom of not needing to serve.