What makes a house a home? : the Wellington field study

Abstract

I initiated this study because I feel that a house should be a very important place to the people that occupy it - it should be a home. If the above quote from Ruddick holds any truth (and I suspect it does) it is a sad state of affairs that designers have not acknowledged the importance of the occupant's contribution. I believe it is far more important that a home be meaningful and appropriate to those who occupy it, than it be a reflection of a designers current "fashion". So with an interest in domestic architecture and a heart full of noble intent I set out to discover what some people feel makes their house a home (or not as the case may be). In doing so I required some initial references to give me a framework within which I could analyse the Wellington scene. The framework I chose was one of existing theory on the home as postulated by overseas researchers. The analysis was one of testing its applicability to the Wellington home. I anticipated no general conclusions that would revolutionise domestic architecture in Wellington - rather I hoped to become more sensitive to the idea of a "home" as expressed by some homeowners in the Wellington region.