Architecture, Sociality and the Production of Locality

Abstract

This article examines the interdependence of architecture and society using insights from Science and Technology Studies. We argue that architecture is not merely a product of sociality but also systematically shapes, influences and coordinates the social. To conceptualise this double-relation, we develop the so-called fried-egg-model of architecture . To understand architecture s embeddedness in its peculiar social and material-spatial surroundings and to make architecture empirically accessible, we integrate the notion of locality into our model. Locality is understood here as the local, earthbound and commonly produced attribute of socio-architectural arrangements. As an illustration of both the theoretical model and the proposed notion of locality , we use two empirical case studies from economic sociology to show that the social order of markets is significantly shaped by the architectural environments in which the markets are embedded. These examples illustrate the fried-egg-model of architecture and pave the theoretical way for analysing architecture s connectedness to local knowledge and tangible locations.