Empowering users : providing a sense of ownership through user control

Designing dwellings that offer residents the opportunity to control the interior space layout, connection to the outdoors, and interior level of comfort heightens the sense of ownership and responsibility for a residence. This thesis explores the topic of user interactionthrough researching existing theories about the correlation between a user's ability to control space and his or her resulting feelings of responsibility. Also being researched are the ways to make a dwelling easily manipulated to provide control to residents, allowing the individuals to define space rather than occupy a home with fixed walls that are defining space. The research culminated with an exploratory design project located in downtown Indianapolis. !he project developed is a residential complex composed of apartment and townhouse dwellings. The project uses ideas of incremental housing along with components which are easily manipulated by users to address the issue of empowering users by providing a sense of ownership through user control.