The senses and meanings of cultural artifacts in contemporary economy: proposal for interpretation of hotel buildings within the cities

Abstract

This is an exploratory research of bibliographical and documental character, which aims at understanding the creation and composition process of architectural objects value as cultural commodities inserted within the specific logic of capital circulation in contemporary economies. Therefore, we have been based upon an investigation conducted since 2007, which congregates database that presently gathers 672 hotels located in Brazil and abroad, so that we have tried to constitute a proposal for identification of more common forms of buildings totally or partially dedicated to commercial hospitality, seeing these buildings as architectural artifacts. We have also tried to characterize the content of hospitality material structure in urban clusters within the world touristic circuit, from an interpretation perspective of hotel buildings as urban commodities. The study has shown that the design appears as a differentiation element which is able to maximize results of the so-called economy of signs and spaces and to effectively participate in the social dynamics of capital appreciation (in its most diverse forms) in restructuring processes of contemporary urban spaces. In a specific and coordinated manner, the study confirms the architectural aesthetics of buildings totally or partially dedicated to hospitality as an element capable of reorienting hotel consumption signification in cities, which may reflect directly in the increasing of material, social and symbolic value of commercial hospitality within cultural and financial circuits of contemporary urban economies.