Arquitectura: una red de significaciones que develan las costumbres y los cambios de una sociedad

Abstract

Objective: to identify the meanings given by young people to the places they inhabit and the way they interpret the significance of their ancestors, by reading architectural forms.

Methodology: from the method of Research Action, a qualitative methodology, the Pedagogical Journal and the Student's Journal were used as instruments in order to collect, compare and select information. Photographs and films were also used to detect elements that were not able to be detected in written records: body gestures and postures. The architectural structure was added as a reading text through its vertical or horizontal layout, size, color and ornaments that constitute as elements of reading. 

Results: it was found that young people interpret the architectural object through their experiences and their affective relationships; they assume it as an intimate place which allows them to free themselves from the masks they use outside and recognize it as a refuge: their walls delimit space, isolate external conflicts and provide security. The shape, size and color of the architectural structure became a factor in interpreting the meanings of yesteryear, as well as being useful in understanding social customs. 

Conclusions: young people position a sense of escaping from the everyday in the places that they inhabit; a space where the reunion with the essence of the being is achieved.