An investigation of transformation of living room furniture: The idea of living room, furniture acquirement dyamics and use practices

In this study, an investigation is conducted about the functional transformation of the living room furniture through a representative sample. As discussing the transformation of furniture, the literature about the the living room phenomenon -refered as "the museum living room" throughout the dissertation- which is internalized as a dominant practice, that is dividing the living room and the other rooms sharply through the public/private, general/personal axis and the routines, rituals and practice in its context is developed as a background. The important points in the context of the museum living room phenomenon are considered mainly as the isolation of the living room from the everyday routines of the household, the high standard of hygiene and maintance, the practice based on displaying rather than using, the hosting activities that lean to formality giving no space for informality. Another important property of the museum living room practice that affects the other spaces of the home is the allocation of the personal and everyday routines of the household to another room, called the 'sitting room'. This room has informal qualities. Although the dominancy of this practice has changed throughout the middle class houses, it is known that this practice is still conducted throughout some. In this dissertation, taking the transformation of this dominant practice as background, a research is conducted about the functional transformations of the living room furniture in the context of daily routines that take place in the living room. In order to discuss this transformation, three layers are determined in order to define the relation between the users and the living room furniture. The first layer is refered as the idea and definition of the living room; the second layer as the process of acquirement of the furniture, the third layer as the experience of the acquired living room furniture throughout the daily life. Triadic space dialects by Lefebvre is adapted for explaining these layers that are meant for discussing the functional transformation of the furniture considering the focus and context of the study. By this way, the layered structure that depicts the whole living room experience of the use consists of abstract layer, physical layer and lived layer. Thus, a convenient structure is provided in order to discuss the cases about the uses of the living room furniture other than its intended functions, consumption. As the research method, qualitative research methods that consist of participant observation and semi structured in-depth intervieware used. The questionnaire of the semi structured in-depth interview is prepared considering the results of a preliminary search that is conducted through surveys with 37 participants. These questions are prepared according to the layered structure which is constructed in the theoretical framework. In order to establish the sampling of the field study, a relevant theoretical sampling is developed. The theoretical sampling is referred to a representative social fraction throughout the urban middle class with high cultural capital which functions as a cultural intermediaries between the upper and lower social classes. The sample is composed of eight main participants who have the potential to represent such a fraction with certain levels and formation and occupation qualities. Amoung these participants, two of them are single while five are married. With the participation as couples in some homes, the interviews are conducted with a total of 13 participant in eight living rooms. In the field study that is conducted in the living rooms of the participants, participant observations are performed about the qualities and uses of the living room furniture during the interview period. Interviews were recorded by a voice-recording device. After the transcription of the interview records, the thematic analysis of the interview texts were performed. Throughout the analysis process which is composed of three cycles of coding and could be also considered as an adaptive version of grounded theory, the main thematic patterns emerged. By establishing the relations between these patterns, the dynamics behind the user adaptation and functional transformation about the living room furniture were interpreted. According to the field study and qualitative analysis, certain adaptations and functional transformations about the living room furniture of the participants were found out. Using the dining table as a study unit, the display unit as "memory cupboard" and general storage unit, the coffee table as game playing unit, the dining chairs as cloth hanging units are considered as the cases in the category of the transformation of the furniture. The transformation of the living room as a sports space is an example for the category of spatial transformations. Also, the case of emergence of the "daily base" practice and the transformation of the television unit to monitor function is considered as examples in the category of the transformation of the practice. The daily base practice is found out as the transformation of the adaptation of a certain object or furniture for the process of daily housework. Throughout the conducted field study, the display unit with mirror, the dining table and the decorative bowl are found out to transform to a daily base units. The transformation of the television to monitor is considered as the adaptation of the television to perform solely monitor function for the participants to watch internet broadcast or function with the DVD player. These cases are depicted in different forms and contexts in the living rooms of the participants. As the aim of this qualitative inquiry is not to reach generalizations through the results of the field study, it is significant to evaluate the data-rich in-depth interview texts which have the potential of representing the dispositions and practice of the similar social fracions. In the field study, the differences and similarities are analysed in detail. The data about the transformation of the furniture, space and practice give vision about the possible emergence of these kinds of transformation in also other social fractions. In order to explain the dynamics behind the adaptation and transformation, comments are developed by constructing the relation between the main and subsidiary patterns occurred in the qualitative analysis. After the analysis of qualitative data, three main patterns emerged. These are 'the effects of the outer actors on the user', 'the union of public and private layers in the living room' and 'the effects of the social distinction means on the living room practice and material culture'. There are also subsidiary patterns under these main patterns. The pattern, defined as 'the effects of the outer actors on the user' refers to the effects of the settings, norms and the stereotypes that are produced by the actors other than users like architects, designers, manufacturers and bureaucrats on the users. This main pattern covers two subsidiary patterns. One of them is 'living room norms of the furniture industry' and the other is 'spatial limitations and orientation'. While the subsidiary pattern, 'living room norms of the furniture industry' emerges as a significant theme in the abstract layer which covers the the definitions about living room and the physical layer which focuses on the furniture acquirement dynamics; the pattern of 'spatial limitations and orientation' emerges mainly in the physical layer. Another main pattern emerged as 'the union of public and private layers in the living room'. This main pattern covers four subsidiary patterns as 'experiencing the living room as a daily space', 'the hosting criteria in acquirement process', 'the decrease in the domestic socialization', and 'the increase in the informal quality of the living room'. The first subsidiary pattern is a significant component in the abstract and lived layers, while the second is in the physical layer. The third and fourth ones emerge mainly in the lived layer. The last main pattern emerged as 'the effect of means of distinction on the living room material culture and practice'. This main pattern has two subsidiary patterns; 'taste' and 'individuality as a distinction form'. The first one occurred as a profound theme in the physical layer, while the second in the lived layer. As a result, it is seen that there are different agents and dynamics some of which contradict and some of which consolidate that construct the background of the different layers of the user's living room and furniture experience. This network of contradictory and consolidating agents create the potential for user adaptations and the functional transformation of the furniture. The first contradiction area is between the the effects of the outer actors and their norms and the daily routines and needs of each user. Certain functional transformations occurred throughout certain furniture as a result of the user to experience his/her living room that was constructed according to the norms that were produced by the outer actors but used by his/her personal daily routines which were different from these norms. Second contradiction, but at the same time reproduction area is created between the public and private layers in the living room. The union of the public and private layers in the living room increased the spread of the personal routines of the household throughout the units which were mainly considered for hosting activities, like display units, dining tables and chairs. This spread ended up with certain transformations and adaptations. The third contradictory area takes place between the individuality disposition that the user experiences as a means for the distinction from the other social groups and a more traditional disposition that belongs to the communitarian culture. This contradiction consolidates with the production of the functional transformation of the living room furniture which is acquired considering the traditional rituals of the communitarian culture and lived out according to the mundane routines of the user. As seen in the results, the layered structure established for discussing the functional transformations of the furniture has provided a convenient platform for revealing and considering the contradiction dynamics behind the living room experience. The contradictory elements that move between the 'outer actors – user', 'public layers – private layers' and 'communitarian dispositions – individual dispositions' axis have provided certain transformations of the furniture, domestic space and the practice in the context of living room experience. As the social production of the contemporary living room and furniture is composed of the sum of the three layers, – together with both contradictory and parallel elements – all the contradictory areas and elements that are revealed in this study has brought an in-depth understanding for the living room and furniture use. All the data and findings and relevant comments and discussion developed throughout this inquiry has been a significant evaluation area and reference point for both further research and professional practice that are supposed to be conducted about the use of living room furniture.