Building type production and everyday life: rethinking building types through actor-network theory and object-oriented philosophy

The aim of this paper is to reconceptualise ‘building type’ in order to better account for its general role in society and everyday life. The paper merges the concept of building type with actor-network theory and object-oriented philosophy in order to develop the concept of ‘territorial sorts’ as a way of widening building-type research and making it more useful for investigating how building types are actually produced, not just in terms of the work done by different kinds of authorities, such as architects, engineers, and building regulators, but also in terms of the ongoing practices and power relations of everyday life.