BUILT GLOBAL, LIVED LOCAL: A STUDY OF HOW TWO DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED CULTURES REACTED TO SIMILAR MODERN HOUSING SOLUTIONS

Abstract

This paper focuses on multifamily buildings in two sites half a planet apart Brazil and Korea in order to investigate the extent to which those buildings are or are not alike, or whether the similarities are more visual than experiential. The idea is that, although these buildings appear to be related based on their facades and spatial organization, more traditional ways of inhabiting them still prevail in the way people appropriate these spaces. In this investigation, we use a series of research strategies that vary from simple area calculation to more sophisticated space-syntax software analysis. The main goal of this exploratory research is to investigate the means and forms by which these modernist spaces (so comparable) are appropriated by local cultures (so diverse).