Multigenerational Dwelling and its Conceptual Roots

Abstract

Driven by recent demographic and social shifts multigenerational dwelling is gaining increased attention. This paper focusses on the need for an underlying vision on this phenomenon in order to understand and develop concrete (architectural) realisations. More specifically the paper questions how the static phenomenological approach of dwelling (Heidegger/Bollnow) can be related to postmodern rhizomatic (Deleuze & Guattari) and spherical (Sloterdijk) thinking. Within this paper the argument is developed that the achievements of the phenomenology of dwelling can be described as in symbiosis with the rhizomatic and spherical nature of multigenerational dwelling. In this way the paper creates an underlying conceptual vision that can be of use in the current debate on changing housing needs in our postmodern society.