Post-domestic Habitat

Call for Paper PAD#25

By Michela Bassanelli¹Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Associate Researcher, HEAD – Genève, HES-SO, Vera Sacchetti²Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD – Genève, HES-SO). (Guest Editors)

PAD Pages on Art and Design, Issue Number 25 will be published in December 2023.

Post-domestic Habitat

During the last three years, different crises, such as health, environmental, social, and economic crises, characterised the international debate on architecture and design (Antonelli and Rawsthorn 2022). The ecological issue (Sacchetti 2023), the Anthropocene (Rahm 2023) and animal exploitation (Caffo 2017) force us to redefine the meaning of “dwelling” in its deepest origins. The pervasiveness of new technologies in the domestic space, and more generally in interior places, has changed the use of these spaces (Colomina 2006). From the first breakthroughs of television screens, and computers, interiors are now under constant assault by the presence of social networks, video games, and artificial intelligence, which redefine its fields of action.

The Call
This edition of PAD explores what we call post-domestic revolution.

The transition from the domestic to a post-domestic sphere comes from the book “Pornotopia. An Essay on Playboy’s Architecture and Biopolitics” by philosopher Paul B. Preciado (2014). The author uses the word post-domestic to express the image of the famous Hugh Hefner –the founder of the American magazine “Playboy”– working on his equipped round bed. This space cannot be defined as a bedroom but as a place where work, pleasure, hyper-connected systems, and the voyeuristic project come together (Preciado 2004). The idea of post-domesticity expressed by the Playboy system is prophetic and anticipatory of our contemporary moment: the loss of the boundary between the public and private sphere; the inhabitants are actors and spectators in their scene; everything that until then was considered private life (domestic space, body, communication) is involved in the processes of production and work.

The house, with its interior devices, is the object that needs significant changes to answer some crucial topics: the many facets of the family and gender roles, the relationship between domestic behaviour and technology, and the request for flexibility and multi-functionality.

Given this conceptual scenario as a reference, the call for papers invites researchers, scholars, and practitioners to share reflections, research, teaching experiences, and case studies, to discuss new ideas for the habitat of the future. Which roles and possibilities can design and architecture play?

Themes to be covered can be, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• New fields of project for interior design and architecture in the Anthropocene era. How can they offer responses to the current crises?
• Reflections, experiences, or projects that focus on changes in domestic architecture and furnishings in favour of a functional loss of individual rooms (i.e. living room, bathroom, bedroom), and towards the transformation and flexibility of these spaces.
• The relationship between new technologies and the home. Reflections, experiences, or projects that demonstrate changes in domestic and interior spaces with social media, video games, and artificial intelligence.

References

• Antonelli, P. and A. Rawsthorn (2022). Design Emergency. Building a Better Future. Phaidon: New York.
• Bassanelli, M. (2022). Abitare oltre la casa. Metamorfosi del domestico. DeriveApprodi: Rome.
• Caffo, L. (2017). Fragile Umanità. Il Postumano Contemporaneo. Einaudi: Milan.
• Colomina, B. (2006). Domesticity at War. Actar: Barcelona.
• Preciado, B. (2004). “Pornotopia.” In Cold War Hothouses, Colomina B., Brennan A. and K.Jeannie (eds.), 216-253. Princeton Architectural Press: New York.
• Rahm, P. (2023). Le style anthropocène. Head Haute Ecole d’Art et Design: Genève.
• Sacchetti, V. and Wang, E. (eds.), (2023). Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal. Mousse Publishing: Milan.

To participate we ask you to send:

• Abstract proposals (from 2.000 to 3.000 characters, spaces included) in English June 20^th 2023.
• Full papers, only in English language, will be required to be submitted by August 10^th 2023 and then be subjected to a double-blind peer review. The full length of the contributions should amount to 20.000/25.000 characters (abstract, notes and bibliography excluded). Authors’ affiliation and short bios (max 1.000 characters, spaces included) should be attached in a separate Word file. The final text must comply with the indications provided in the document: “PAD- GUIDELINES-AUTHORS-ENG-2022” (https://www.padjournal.net/wp- content/uploads/2022/01/PAD-GUIDELINES-AUTHORS-ENG-2022-1.docx).
• Illustrations (maximum 10 per article) must be collected in a .zip folder, named with the author’s surname and a progressive numbering corresponding to the captions (e.g. 01_LastName, 02_LastName). These should be listed in a document written in the same font as the main text and listed on a Word .doc document as follows: Figure 1: Author’sname and surname, Title of the work, date. Minimum resolution of 300 dpi, .JPG file.

Abstract submission by email to editors@padjournal.net and cc to marinella.ferrara@polimi.it; chiara.lecce@polimi.it

The Director of Pages on Arts & Design, Marinella Ferrara

Timing

Launch of the Call: May 2023
Deadline Abstract: 20 June 2023
Acceptance of Proposal: 3 July 2023
Full Paper: 10 August 2023

Double Peer Review: by the end of September/early October 2023
Camera-ready: by the end of November 2023
Publication: by the end of December 2023

• 1
  Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Associate Researcher, HEAD – Genève, HES-SO
• 2
  Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD – Genève, HES-SO).