Abstract

In this collection of cases within a case, Lauren Dean explores how a building type is born in a process of 19th century urbanization, how spatial enclosures of buildings affect everyday practices in residential patios, and how maintenance of residential facades and interiors under conditions of commercial reuse plays a role in a process of contemporary neighborhood transformation. In addition, she theorizes how buildings are redefined and how they come to mean through use and visual interaction. Following buildings called "cités" through history and context in Santiago, Chile, she finds the making of a building type wrapped up in the making of a society.