Physical And Architectural Considerations Which Create A Sense Of Home

A home can be regarded as a place where one lives permanently as a member of a family or household. It can also be an institution for people needing professional care or supervision. There are several examples of the types of homes you can find, such as a residential home, nursing home, old people's home, retirement home, convalescent home, rest home, children's home etc… People have different views on what a home is. We all grew up differently and because of that, there are different things that we look for in a home. For better or worse, the place where we grew up usually retains an iconic status. But while it's human nature to want to have a place to belong, we also want to be special, and defining yourself as someone who once lived somewhere more interesting than the standard suburbs is one way to do so (Beck). Some think of a home as a place to sleep and some think of it as the only place you feel free. While other people have expectations of finding family members or the only place you can have a family dinner. So a home has to be different from the outside world, because when you are outside it seems like you are in a battle field with plenty of strangers. Then later get relieved when they get home because that is where they feel safe and surrounded with familiar faces. Susan Clayton, an environmental psychologist at the College of Wooster, says that for a lot people, their home is part of their self-pride, which is the reason why we do things like enhancing our houses and take care of our gardens in the backyard (Beck). These large patches of vegetation serve little real purpose, but they are part of a public face people put on, displaying their home as an extension of themselves (Beck). In that case our homes define our characters and how we treat them says a lot about who we are. Whether we move from one place to another or not, we always want to feel home.

There is a difference between a home and a house. A home can be described as a personal living space in simple terms. A house is something completely different to a home. It is very similar to a shelter. It forms part of a home, but it is meaningless if it can’t provide a comfortable living space that can be a home. In my opinion a house is a physical shelter for protection, but no one can refer to their houses as a shelter because it was built by them to be a home. A shelter is some sort of a protection or a shield. It is a broad term because it can be an animal shelter or a bus shelter. And all those can never become a home to a human being. In that case a house can be a shelter which is a structure. But for it to become a home there has to be a lot of things happening within the structure that will change it into a home for the people living in it. A house is a building which someone lives in. A home can be a house, an apartment But it can also be a boat, an underground cave or a tent. A home is a place where you have created a living for yourself, you are attached to it emotionally, it somehow becomes a part of you. It carries the notion of comfort, security, happiness. A house will turn into a home once there are people in it that will create their own special environment for themselves. We can find another example in companies. A company is like a house. It's a structure. Nothing more, nothing less. It requires technical knowledge, materials and some money to build. There are well built companies and some are not so well built. A company serves as a place for us to work so we can earn a living, pay our bills and protect our families. But some companies are different. In some companies you feel like you are home. Some companies are more than a place to work, the people who work there feel like they belong. They feel at peace (Sinek). So we don’t find homes only as personal spaces, we can find them in places we feel like we belong there.

In architecture there is a few considerations that need attention when creating a sense of home in a building. In a nursing home, having a private space is associated with a sense of home. When designing the spaces in a house there must be a division between public and private spaces. Bedrooms must be separated to rooms like kitchens in shared family houses as everyone need their own private space. The family only comes out to the living room or on the dining table to engage with each other. But that is not the case in bachelor apartments as the only thing separated is the bathroom, because it is a private space by itself. So it depends on the people or person who is going to occupy the space and for what reason. Another example is of a office for lecturers and journalists. The lecturers need their private space as they are not always together with the others and they don’t work every day. But journalists don’t need private offices as the always learn from each other so it must be easy for them to communicate and they have to be comfortable in their workspace, so it’s like a home for them. “Certain pieces of furniture in the private rooms of residents were only meant to accommodate significant others, such as family or guests, and thus were considered important. Individual and unique pieces of furniture were a source of delight and could evoke memories. Among the items that were deemed most important were pictures, paintings, and pieces of furniture. Personal belongings reflect emotional value to individuals” (Frontiers). Furniture pieces are good but they can also be bad depending on how they are placed. They should leave roof for easy access and circulation in the space. Things like ceiling heights and window openings are to be taken into consideration because there are also the main feature that determines how the proposed space feels like. A good ceiling height should be used so that the residents feel more comfortable because it won’t be a good idea for having something too short or too high. Easy access to the outside or the garden is a good idea because the freedom is needed in a home.