Abstract
An architectural object interacts with its user through its functional and formal qualities. However, when stripped of these attributes, it discloses the potential to transform the phenomenal system it inhabits alongside the subject. Drawing on Martin Heidegger’s hammer analysis and Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory, this study explores the relationship between a user and an architectural object that lacks a predefined form or function. It examines how the subject’s intervention can reconfigure such an object into a quasi-object. This relationship establishes a conceptual bridge that can be read through both phenomenological and relational frameworks. In this domain, where spatial boundaries and interiority are renegotiated, the assemblage of heterogeneous elements gives rise to new actor-network configurations. By approaching Villa Verde as a quasi-object and comparing user experiences before and after intervention, this research moves beyond traditional concerns of design, construction, and aesthetics. Ultimately, it aims to demonstrate how architectural objects are reproduced and transformed within collective practices.
Publication Date
7-29-2026
References
Aravena, A., Arteaga, G., Cerda, J. I., Oddó, V., Torres, D., & Martínez, C. (2013). Proyecto Villa Verde, Constitución, Chile Elemental [Villa Verde project, Constitución, Chile Elemental]. ARQ (Santiago), (84), 48–51. http://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-69962013000200007
Barthes, R. (1977). Elements of semiology (A. Lavers, & C. Smith, Trans.). Hill and Wang Press. (Original work published 1964)
Carrasco, S., & O'Brien, D. (2022). Incremental pathways of post-disaster housing self-recovery in Villa Verde, Chile. Architecture, 2(3), 544–561. https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture2030030
Elemental. (2024). Villa Verde incremental housing project, 2012–2013. https://www.elementalchile.cl/downloads/villa-verde-housing-plans
Fleming, S. (2007). The end of architecture? Architectural Theory Review, 12(2), 195–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/13264820701730900
Hale, J. (2017). Merleau-Ponty for architects. Routledge.
Harman, G. (2009). Prince of networks: Bruno Latour and metaphysics. Re.press.
Harman, G. (2018). Object-oriented ontology: A new theory of everything. Pelican Books.
Harman, G. (2020). Art and objects. Polity.
Heidegger, M. (2008). Being and time (J. Macquarrie, & E. S. Robinson, Trans.). Harper Perennial Modern Thought Press. (Original work published 1927)
Jelić, A., Tieri, G., De Matteis, F., Babiloni, F., & Vecchiato, G. (2016). The enactive approach to architectural experience: A neurophysiological perspective on embodiment, motivation, and affordances. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 481. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00481
Kassem, A. (2019). Performative interiors: Terminological and theoretical reflections on the term 'performative.' Interiority, 2(1), 95–106. https://doi.org/10.7454/in.v2i1.51
Koçyiğit, G. (2018). Bilgi kurami baglaminda mimarlik bilgisi ve mimarlikta bilimsellik sorunu [Architectural knowledge in the context of epistemology and the problem of scientificity in architecture]. Mimarlik Planlama ve Tasarim Arastirmalari, 25–40.
Latour, B. (1988). Mixing humans and nonhumans together: The sociology of a door-closer. Social Problems, 35(3), 298–310. https://doi.org/10.2307/800624
Latour, B. (1996). On actor-network theory: A few clarifications. Soziale Welt, 47(4), 369–381. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40878163
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the social: An introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199256044.001.0001
Marinovic, G. I. (2021). Belonging to place: Interpretative phenomenological analysis of incremental housing. ACE: Architecture, City, and Environment, 16. http://doi.org/10.5821/ace.16.46.9706
McCann, R. (2018). Breached boundaries. Log, (42), 153–164. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44840737
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1988). The visible and the invisible (A. Lingis, Trans.). Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1964)
O'Brien, D., Carrasco, S., & Dovey, K. (2020). Incremental housing: Harnessing informality at Villa Verde. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 14(3), 345–358. https://doi.org/10.1108/ARCH-10-2019-0237
Oka, A. G. E. P. B., & Gurgel, B. A. P. C. (2023). Projetos de habitação social de Alejandro Aravena uma análise comparative entre Quinta Monroy e Villa Verde - Chile [Alejandro Aravena's social housing projects: a comparative analysis between Quinta Monroy and Villa Verde - Chile]. V Seminário AEAULP | Proximidades Distantes, (2), 5.
Pallasmaa, J. (2012). The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses. John Wiley & Sons.
Serres, M. (1982). The parasite. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sharr, A. (2007). Heidegger for architects. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203934197
Spiegelberg, H. (2021). Fenomenolojik hareket: Tarihsel bir giriş [The phenomenological movement: A historical introduction] (S. Bayazit, Trans.). Pinhan Press. (Original work published 1994)
TED. (2014, November 6). Alejandro Aravena: My architectural philosophy? Bring the community into
the process [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0I0Poe3qlg&ab_channel=TED
Yaneva, A. (2022). Actor-network theory. In Latour for architects (pp. 63–78). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429328510
Submitted Date
2024-09-28
Accepted Date
2026-04-27
First Page
283
Last Page
304
Recommended Citation
Cestel, T., & Kaymaz, S. (2026). Villa Verde as a Quasi-Object: The Renegotiation of Spatial Boundaries and Interiority. Interiority, 9 (2), 283-304. https://doi.org/10.7454/in.v9i2.1136
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Author(s) retain the copyright of articles published in this journal, with first publication rights granted to Interiority.