The changing room: Towards an interior multiplicity

Abstract

Rooms are the proto-spatial modules that define our engagements with space. They hold our intimate narratives whilst projecting our curated public images. Within their jurisdiction, we assume the persona of their typologies and act under the code of their determinants. However, the candour of this exchange is not all it promises to be, as it only works in the presence of various types of rooms in one place/building, where our everyday life plays out episodically in various compartments. What happens to our understanding of rooms when users are not afforded multiple room types to traverse? When one has to sleep, live, work, cleanse, eat, pray, and play in a single room? When instead of changing rooms, the occupants have to dwell in a changing room, one that adapts and mutates to accommodate needs and desires. This paper speculates on the increased demand for functional multiplicity in our interior settings and the changing nature of rooms. It presents various interior acts that aim to activate a variability of spatial configurations, making a case for layering multiple living narratives to respond to the ever-changing programmatic needs of contemporary life.

KEYWORDS:

• multiplicity
• multivalent
• narrative
• fixity
• typology
• domesticity
• pandemic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rana Abudayyeh

Rana Abudayyeh is an Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and holds the Robin Klehr Avia Professorship. Abudayyeh’s pedagogy focuses on advancing an interiority responsive to various contextual layers, employing advanced computational design, digital fabrication, and novel material logics. Abudayyeh is a licensed architect in her native country, Jordan, and the recipient of numerous awards, most recent of which is H. Patrick Lawson Teaching Award and 2019 Most Admired Educator in Interior Design by Design Intelligence. Email: [email protected]