Prototyping the 'Unheimlich'
“The home does not remain the domain of domestic life, nor does the world simply become its social or historical counterpart. The unhomely is the shock of recognition of the world-in-the home, the home-in-the-world”

Homi K. Bhabha; The World and the Home. 1992

Thank you for participating in this questionnaire. The following set of questions probe methods in which architectural qualities, narrative, curation and emotion renders space we inhabit almost every day unhomely. This research asks which spatial characteristics attribute to the experience of feeling ‘unhomed’, through the theoretical framework of Freud’s uncanny (1990) and Vidler’s unheimlich (1992), particularly in the domestic context.

Where are you located at the moment? Would this be home?
What do you think physically makes a house or home? List 5 qualities
What personal effects (possessions) would you consider important to your idea of home-making? What objects do you own that make you feel at home or secure? List 5 objects
Responding to the following quote by Anne Frank: “The first thing I put in was a diary, then hair curlers, handkerchiefs, schoolbooks, a comb, old letters; I put in the craziest things with the idea that we were going into hiding. But I am not sorry, memories mean more to me than dresses…”, if your idea of home was threatened, would the objects listed in the above question correlate? Would they be different? If so name them.
Which surfaces or objects in your home or place of residence capture physical reflections of yourself? What ‘frames’ you? (List 3 – 5 objects)
Perhaps think of a time you may have lost your way home. A childhood memory? How did you find your way back and were the visual cues or familiar landmarks you used?
A quote from Sigmund Freud’s the Uncanny, imagine: "We come across the number 62 several times in a single day, or if we begin to notice that everything which has a number— addresses, hotel-rooms, compartments in railway-trains— always has the same one, or one which at least contains the same figures" . How would you reason seeing multiple coincidences in space?
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How would you feel that your home may be ‘watching’ you? What would amplify this sensation? A webcam? A window opening up to an inconvenient field of view? List 5 objects and/or qualities.
How do you physically overcome the above? Is it a physical covering you employ perhaps? A cloth, a piece of tape for example? List three aspects
Where would you consider are blind spots in your home or place of residence (where you cannot be seen)? Name locations that come to mind
Think of an abandoned home, from your street, your neighbourhood or your city. Do you find them strange? If so, what physically, do you think, makes it ‘strange’ or ‘not strange’?
Is there a story connected to this house that you may know of? (You may wish to expand on the story, however it is not necessary, given perhaps its nature). Would you think this story contributes to its ‘strangeness’?
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