Architecture and Anthropology. Working in between Concepts

Abstract

Architecture and anthropology have become more and more intertwined, making place to what I call an anthropo-architecture – an architecture centred on its social outcomes, an architecture that understands and creatively interprets sociological and anthropological inquiries to a level that exceeds a basic multidisciplinary approach. This article puts together related fundamental concepts in architecture and anthropology (like spatial vs. social relations, boundary vs. limits etc.), underlying their distinct role but also their intersection and, what is most important, (new) overlapping concepts that can’t be considered to pertain to one discipline or another, but to both regarded together – as an antropo-architecture. The new concepts (or new meanings given to fundamental concepts) as results of this research speak of: an architecture that accommodates the ever-changing social needs; of socio-spatial interactions as interactions fostered by design; of the boundary as a dynamic relation between spaces and - more than that – between their social components; of the in-between as the most socially, emotionally, experiential and transformative contemporary space through the creativity and the performances it facilitates; of antropo-architecture as an equilibrium between architectural perception and anthropological field research. This research wishes to emphasize the contemporary need for an antropo-architectural approach and it provides a conceptual frame for reading, understanding and interpreting the built space and its use. It takes a look into various theories in search of shared/related/new overlapping concepts and it investigates their role through examples and research-by-design proposals coordinated by the author. Such approaches lead to a better understanding of the urban space and of the ways in which it is being used, as well as of social realities and issues. They invite users, spectators, viewers to question, to imagine, to interact, intervene, propose and not only use space and everything in it. Anthropo-architectural interventions foster the active engagement of its users, it embraces and it encourages its users to embrace diversity (of background, of opinion, of experience etc.) and ideas of multiplicity (of identities, realities etc.) through creative appropriation and interpretation of the built environment.