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TomasMaldonado
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35
merce
3) T. Maldonado,"L'automobile:
e razionalita
regina,"in Avanguardia
(Turin: Einaudi, 1974). Another
argument in defense of the
automobileis the assertionthat it
assures a high degree of personal
mobility. On the ideal plane, this
of
shouldmeanthe democratization
mobility, the absolute freedom of
everyone to travel anywhere. In
reality,however,as has been shown
in thelastfewyears,possiblemobility
is in conflictwith probablemobility.
Theoretically we can use the
automobileto travel,but increasing
traffic congestion is such that the
practicalprobabilityof travelingby
carbecomesevermoreillusory.
4) M. Mauss,"Lestechniquesdu corps,"
in Sociologieet anthropologie(1934)
(Paris: Presses Universitaires de
France, 1950), 363. As to what
concernsthe presentdisciplinaryrole
habitational
of comfortin a particular
context (the living room), see the
excellentand now classic empirical
investigationof A. Silbermann,Vom
Wohnen der Deutschen (Cologne:
Westdeutscher
Verlag,1963).
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Laterreet lesreveriesdu
7) G. Bachelard,
J. Corti,1948).
repos(Paris:Librairie
Also importantin this book is the
stimulatingchapterIV, "TheNatal
HouseandtheDream-Like
House."
11)P. Gay,op.cit.,438.
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40
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theatre."23
conceptof "conspicuousconsumption."25
As to the configurationof objects, the interiorof a house is
just a segmentof a vast system of the materialcultureof society.
But it is not a simplesegment.Of course,externalconditionsthat
arisefrom the system to which they belong are decisive;yet, it
would be absurdto deny everyform of autonomousselectionto
the dwelling.Withincertainlimits,the consumerwithin a given
habitationalmicroenvironmentcan decide, as indeed happens,
the generativemodalityof the segmentof materialculturethat is
assignedto him, the natureand position of the objects and the
degreeto which they fit his needs.For that reason,the consumer
is compelled each day, more or less consciously, to judge the
surroundingsagainsthis own model of happiness.One should
not be surprised that an accurateinvestigation of the role of
comfort in the habitational microenvironmentcalls upon a
theory of materialculture,as much as a theory of happiness-as
much upon ergology (the study of material cultures) and
eudeamonics(the doctrineof happiness).
Translatedfrom the ItalianbyJohn Cullars.
Design Issues: Vol. VIII, Number 1 Fall 1991
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