What encouraged them to do this study?
For our work, the internal organization of housing is a very close issue for us. We had a bias that they're all pretty similar. We thought the market is very standardized. From there, we did a ludic analysis. Through the web pages, the housing offers from different countries were consulted, always with the first example found in each one of them. And we set criteria for the study to be balanced: two-bedroom homes, without terraces and located in urban areas. We wanted to see if that limitation of the opportunities we perceive in our environment is around the world. Or to organize the interior of the housing in which each country still has its own form.

The conclusion has been the first, that is, the existence of a restriction of opportunity.
Yes, in line with what we think, indeed. However, we have seen some differences. For example, areas related to personal hygiene continue to maintain their local character. It is a rather private issue, little present in audiovisual products.

According to your study, what are the dwellings of the world today?According to
the rationalist model: there is a division between night and day, between the public and the private. They are day centers, public, kitchen and lounge, increasingly united, but the kitchen is still closed in many countries. Next to the living room, but closed, by the theme of hygiene mentioned above (because the kitchen is “dirty”). And in the living room, the TV sofa has become the binomial. The kitchen and the living room are organized around it.

There is no housing without television, therefore...
No, and in addition, the center where television is located is the center of the house. For example, in the old houses built in Euskal Herria, 60 years ago - or many times you see the kitchen, and above all the dining room linked to the kitchen was the center of the house. Life was organized around this. This option no longer appears in the offers and the binomial TV couch is the protagonist.

The conclusion they have drawn is that this division is a reflection of capitalist culture. Why? Architecture
is a good indicator of the political, social, economic and technological reality we live in. In short, it is a cultural product. Product of today's society. Therefore, it shows many values and principles of society. In addition, the authors of most housing offered are aligned with economic power and regulatory powers.

And what value is driven?
On the one hand, individualism. This is very evident depending on the type of room offered. There is always a master bedroom, double, for the heads of the family (and the heads of the family should be as a couple). On the contrary, the second bedroom, or the third, has a much smaller surface, fully enhancing individualism, being considered as a unit of independent use. It has a bed to sleep, a study table and a wardrobe. That's where you can spend the day without having to relate to others in the house. Now, in addition, on many occasions, you can also have TV inside. Therefore, one characteristic is individualism and another is hierarchy. The fact that a bedroom has a closet means that the owner of that bedroom is the owner of the objects found inside it. This determines something. In a way, private property is praised: everyone has their own.

What alternatives are there?
As we have said, a deconstruction process would be necessary. But there are examples in history and in the world. An alternative may be that the rooms are just for sleeping, not much larger than the size of the bed, and that they are outside a space of learning or work shared by the members of the house. Or a closet. You can create new spaces with new names, rearranging all the uses of the house. Play spaces, etc.

You speak of a paradox that, despite being a reflection of capitalism, supply is contrary to the rules of the free market. Because it gives no margin of
choice n.La reason is that, in our opinion, housing is a product that the market sells only once. And because it's a necessary product, people have to buy what's offered. We have it very internalized, but it's not hard to realize that there are other models. We know the different types of houses, but in the end the market limits reflection. It doesn't give you the opportunity, and you just have to decide where the house is, how many square meters it has, whether it has two or three bedrooms and whether you're going to be in a kitchen and a living room. Almost nothing else.