This work is focused on identifying all those factors that influence the sense of intimacy within a space and especially a home. Also, it examines whether this sense can be found in modern architecture, analyzing works of three architects.

Different Views

Modernism was a breakthrough in architecture history. Functionality is the main design element of modern buildings. On the contrary is Heideggers view. For Heidegger, the over-simplified principles of modern architecture displace the users desires.

Intimate Or Not ..? What Factors Make a Place Intimate ... What About Homes ..?

The definition of intimacy is not clear. It is not objective as the sense of intimacy is related to individual  space recognition. To understand the issue, it is necessary to completely decompose the space into its components and examine each component separately. The basic size that occurs is that of scale. The sense of scale is not simply related to biomimetic metrics but has a deeper origin and is associated with the search for the sense of nest. The space recognition is different for everyone else. However there is one substance that remains unchanged when considering space with all its possible variants based on the possibility I can or I cannot change it. Having independently considered its elements geometrically constitute space, the element of materiality which encompasses time and nature, emerges.

Are Modern Buildings Intimate to their Users? (Analysis through the Work of Three Architects)

Modernism cannot be characterized as a homogeneous morphological movement. This heterogeneity that characterizes it, is also found in the case of intimacy. There are homes where this feeling is met while in other cases, completely unfamiliar spaces have been produced.

In the work of A. Constantinides simplicity is dictated by place and user’s experience. This character remained unchanged throughout his work. In contrast, examining intimacy at Le Corbusiers work,heterogeneity is found. At the same time with Villa Savoye, the Cité Frugès residences in Pessac were designed and the same time that Unite de Habitation was designed, Le Corbusiers famous hut was also designed. Secondly, a gradual transition to smaller and more intimate structures is observed. Unlike Le Corbusier, in John Lautners early works the design is taken into account on human scale, and the desire to integrate the building with nature is clear.  Futurism undermine the human scale of early works. It is only natural materials and contact with nature that ensure sense of intimacy in the middle works. And yet they disappear in latest works.

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