Converted Residences – Re-Inventing Urban Heritage. A Sociological-architectural Enquiry – the Fahle Case

Paper in proceeding, 2010

This paper addresses the question of the nature and the forces behind emerging modern ways of residing as demonstrated on a specific situation of re-invention of cultural heritage within a process of gentrification. Focusing on constructions of urban identities and their manifestations in residential architecture our explorative inquiry intends to widen the understanding of the becoming of symbolic capital informing identity building upon interrelated individual personalized aspirations for desired life quality in residential situations and that of singular architectural inventions. The methodological profile for this research is the application of trans-disciplinary analysis of social and architectural practices drawing primarily on the ontological views of social physical duality informing creative principles of social constructivist epistemology. By applying qualitative research methods, combining architectural interpretative observation with in depth interviewing the paper attempts to unfold aspects of residential identity building within the subtlety of intertwined relations forming between resident perceptions and architect conceptions.