Contemporary home environment in Jeddah City: women and the design of living spaces
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Date
05/07/2018Author
Hareri, Raghda Hassan
Metadata
Abstract
This research entails a close analysis of the contemporary home environment. The
study of the home environment and the relationship between domestic spaces and
residents is a noteworthy trend in design studies. This opens up the possibility of
investigating gender influence on interior design. This study focuses on the role of
women in designing living spaces’ interiors, to unveil the women's role and
participation in their home environment. The main focus of this study is the design
role of women in family living rooms, particularly in the context of Jeddah city,
Saudi Arabia. The study articulates how women leave identity footprints on the
space they have designed and used.
My research indicates that the interior design of any space is more complex than
simply shaping the use of space; it also reinforces the woman’s influence. The
methodological framework has been structured into two main approaches: a case
study approach, which involved in-depth case studies of living spaces, and an
ethnographical approach, which involved in-depth interviews with middle-class
housewives in their living rooms. The latter approach aimed to seek information
about experiences, performances, interactions and values in the home environment,
and enables identity presentation in the family living room. In addition, associated
methods, such as photographic and video records, coding the living space features
and visual observation of the living room were used to document every detail of the
living space, to enrich data collection and unpack the environmental meanings.
These mixed methods helped to understand the reality of women’s home experiences
and provide a compelling portrait of women’s roles and identities within their living
spaces.
The main theoretical paradigms are Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity
and Erving Goffman’s work on the presentation of self in social interaction, to
investigate the gender roles and types of performance in the domestic living rooms.
The practice of structuring the living room, furnishing and decorating the space
interiors and the spatial arrangement illustrate the different circumstances in which
women play their roles and have influence in distinct ways in the living rooms’
contexts. How Saudi women use the living space for their private activities and
social relationships is examined, to investigate the presentation of Saudi women’s
identity and position in the home and beyond. This research has explored Saudi
women’s performativity through their design experience and everyday engagement
with the interior space and objects within their domestic living rooms; these
performances represent their priorities in various roles through which social visibility
is assumed.
This research has established a new understanding of what goes on behind the closed
doors of Jeddah homes. It has been found that Saudi housewives (with no formal
interior design education or qualifications) dominate the design of domestic interiors.
A new group of designers has been identified, who need to be recognised and
acknowledged. In this research context, these Saudi housewives in Jeddah are
amateur homemakers and interior designers, designing their home spaces and doing
the job like any other professional designers. In this case, they must be
acknowledged socially.