Banca de DEFESA: ANA CLARA ASSIS FERREIRA

INVISIBLE VALUE: THE IDEA OF COMFORT IN THE DESIGN PROCESS IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL SOCIAL NETWORKS

comfort, architectural design, bioclimatic concepts, social networks

The consolidation of social media platforms as one of the main human ways of communication is an ongoing process whose future consequences remains a mystery. In this context, it is important to analyze how published content and the fast and visual format of these media may be reinforcing, within the architectural design process, an imbalance of importance between aesthetic and visual aspects and other "invisible" technical parameters such as the idea of comfort. When we narrow the focus to residential building projects, this issue becomes even more concerning when considering that domestic space has as one of its noblest functions be the shelter and provide the comfort of its inhabitants, and this function may be overlooked in the complexity of the architectural design process. Thus, this work discusses the assumption that social media platforms, especially Instagram, characterized by the hyper-valorization of images and the rapid dissemination of information, influence the definition of values attributed to architectural projects, resulting in the simplification of spatial plastic aspects and reducing the importance of "invisible" elements - technical and qualitative aspects, including environmental comfort. In line with the objective of exploring the presented assumption, this dissertation aims to explore how the dissemination method of Instagram social media content influences the perception of environmental comfort as a value attribute in residential architectural projects. Methodologically, the work presents itself as an applied research, with an exploratory nature and a mixed approach. The main data collection tools used were literature review, document analysis, and the application of questionnaires. As general results, the analyzed sample found a very small frequency of appearance of terms related to the idea of environmental comfort in Instagram posts, which diverges from the values perceptions alleged by professionals. These, in turn, were categorical in admitting the influence of social networks on their design practices.