Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Architecture (MArch)
Department
Architecture
First Advisor
Kyna Leski
Second Advisor
Michael Kubo
Abstract
In Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Eugene Halton’s book, The Meaning of Things, they bring to our attention that ‘few English words are filled with the emotional meaning of the word “home”,’ and that many other languages lack even one word with the same connotation. So as one of the unique cultures that has verbalized and contextualized this deep connection to the home, it feels like our responsibility to interrogate it further in order to understand why it exists and how we can design so everyone can experience it. This thesis explores the transformation of space into home and a human into inhabitant. Through methods of humanizing the design process, this thesis demonstrates how we can give architecture a familial dynamic, giving it life, lineage, and character, and thus enriching and empowering that moment of intersection when a person moves into a space. Within that moment, wherein two timelines discover each other, we find that we have the ability to foster a mutual relationship of nature and nurture, a relationship of longevity, and a relationship built for a sense of belonging in order to achieve an architecture where a person can connect with their truest self.
Recommended Citation
Edwards, Jillian, "Built for Belonging: An Exploration of the Mutual Adoption Between Human and Home" (2025). Masters Theses. 1458.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1458
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