Designed communities? An ethnographic exploration of architecture and social life in three new residential spaces

In current residential spaces there seem to be an increasing emphasis on small-scale communities. A number of new, high profiled residential complexes thus seek to promote new ways of social living by rethinking architectural design, typologies and concepts. In this paper I explore the emergence of these designed communities: What social life is promoted in such recent architectural visions? And to what extent can the social life and identity of a place actually be designed?

The paper discusses these questions based on a fieldwork in three new housing complexes in the Copenhagen Region: The A-house by architect Carsten Holgaard, the 8-house by BIG, and Lange Eng (The Long Meadow) by Dorte Mandrup. Rather than taking the perspective of either architect or user, the fieldwork has ethnographically traced the entire process from design to occupancy. The aim is to explore how the social life and identity of a place is initially formed through the hands of architects, developers and estate agents, and further shaped and realized by residents, when taken into use.

I suggest that by way of branding and iconic architecture these thoroughly designed environments reinforce the notion of residential space as an identity unit. In Ørestad residents thus tend to identify by the name of the house they live in, rather than by the street name. These residential spaces may thus be seen as promoting micro-urban entities, as social and urban life is designed and staged within the residential complex, and activities and virtual communities are provided for residents exclusively.