Bridging architecture and social sciences to study home-based work: a socio-spatial representation method

Abstract

This article presents a methodology that combines methods of architectural representation with qualitative social science research to study housing, particularly, home-based work. Studies of home-based work have specialised in discussing the complexities of sharing the domestic and productive spaces. However, the literature shows that there is a methodological gap in approaching these complexities. Specifically, both social science and architectural techniques separately fail to represent the relationships and conflicts between these two spheres. This article addresses the following question: how to achieve a representation that corresponds to the complexity of the relationship between domestic and productive space in dwellings? To answer this question, our methodology combines the techniques of architecture (sketches, plans, maquettes and axonometries) and social science (observation, interviews and focus groups) to capture the relationship between domestic (reproductive) and work (productive) spaces in households. The method presents three scales of analysis: the micro (household), the meso (part of the neighbourhood) and the macro (neighbourhood). These different scales of analysis were applied in two case studies to test the performance of the method. These are the transitional emergency neighbourhoods built after the 2015 floods in Atacama (Chile). These cases were selected because, for many families, housing is also a place of income generation, and often emergency housing is a place of work, contributing to the economic recovery process after a disaster.