Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The physical environment is constructed of materials. The materiality of different places contributes to how places can be distinguished and the material can contribute to the construction of place identity. For architects with different orientations the material is one of the principal means by which they can express their idea. The material remains when the design process is finished and instead the material becomes a precondition for how people will perceive and deal with the place. The literature study of the essay examines how the concept of place and materiality is dealt with in different disciplines and how these descriptions are linked to the concept of place identity. The study also examines the means by which place identity can be conveyed, through materials and through communication. The literature study describes the importance attributed to different materials, how materials are used to express values and how the built environment can affect people. Through an exemplification of Seved, a residential area in Malmö, the essay examines how graffiti has been used to mediate a new image of the area. The example shows how the introduction of materials can provide places with value and simultaneously helping to reproduce the image of an area as a place.