Kinetic House. Mobility in shaping the function and form of the contemporary house

Maciej Janowski

doi:10.37190/arc210309

Abstract

The aim of the article is an analysis of private houses, which, thanks to the mobility of their elements, meet the needs of modern residents. The subject of the research are selected houses built in 1996–2011 in Europe and the USA, supplemented with analyses of the phenomenon of mobility in the works of, among others, Gerrit Rietveld and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The article analyzes the changes in form and function as a result of introducing mobile elements into the home, adapted to the psychophysical needs of their owners. Mobility in home architecture is a factor that allows us to complete and extend the fulfilment of these needs using the contemporary architectural language derived from the Modern Movement. Analytical and comparative methods were used during the research.     The research shows that the development of the kinetic house includes more and more important elements of the building, which significantly changes the perception of the form, as well as its dynamics and articulation. In kinetic houses, the loosening of the functional and spatial structure as well as the use of in between space is visible, which, combined with the mobility of elements, proves the summation of phenomena occurring in the contemporary architecture.     A kinetic house creates great opportunities for changes in the form and living spaces, the type, scale, and time of which depend on the lifestyles of residents. Spatial diversity supplemented with mobility may compensate for the lack of changes or the impossibility of their control in other spheres of human life activity. It is also a factor conducive to the creation of a Place by the residents. As the mobility of the elements of the house increases, the level of personalization of the form and space as well as the identification of residents with the Place increases. Experiencing changes in form and space becomes more intense.