Lived reality, perception and architecture: two community centres interrogated through the lens of Lefebvre's spatial triad

[摘要] English: Community centres are ideally at the heart of society as a platform for social interaction. Moreover, these centres often provide direly needed services such as basic health care and educational or family guidance that sustain and improve human life. Spatially, community centres form nodes from which other informal commercial or institutional facilities can branch providing a civic presence in a relative homogeneous residential area. These catalytic structures help create new networks bridging the barriers of spatial segregation that is still remnant of apartheids legacy. Consequently, the central research question investigates the spatial production of community centres built after 1994. This inquiry is further interrogated through three research questions. First, what is the relationship between lived reality of community members (Spatial Practice) and the two-dimensional representation thereof as designed by architects (Representations of Space)? Second, what is the relationship between user‟s perception (Representational Space) and architects intent (Representations of Space) of symbolism, images and signs? Third, how do community centres, in the macro-context, reconfigure boundaries, form and function (Spatial Practice), as well as areas of centralization, condensation and displacement (Representational Space)? Through Henri Lefebvre‟s�?spatial triad, the lived reality, the representational and inherent embedded codes are inspected. The three spatial concepts of the two respective case studies, the Helenvale multi-purpose resources centre and the Ubuntu community centre in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipal area are investigated through semi-structured interviews which are supported by a mapping and sort-chart process. A cross-case analysis interrogates the current public space as perceived by the users and designed by the architects. It is the thesis of a reciprocal relationship between lived reality, perception and architecture that investigates the impact of community centres on spatial transformation to inform future development.

[发布机构] University of the Free State