The science and art of architecture skilfully relate parts to a greater whole as well as creates a form, which is uniquely appropriate for the exercise of a specific set of functions. There is no single approach to the study of architecture, but many. Anthropological approach considers buildings as cultural artefacts and can be revealing of the relationship of dwellings to family, social structure and mores. Architectural anthropology is an emerging discipline which has its scope in the interface of physical and cultural spaces of a community. The present study is an empirical attempt to understand the anthropological and phenomenological dimensions of architecture in two urban housing complexes located in Kolkata in India. The key concept to be used in the present study is space both in terms of theoretical discourse and empirical representation. The study do establish the fact that buildings have social lives with physical structure, needs, uniqueness, characters as well as cognitive identity. The social identity of these buildings is drawn from a number of socio-economic variables of the residents guided by time–space determinants.

Inscribed space is solely a metaphor describing the relationship between humans and their physical or social environment. The present study is an empirical one, representing the inscribed space and its role in the occupational shift of a community dwelling at Saltgheri village in Mousuni Island in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal in India. The most revered firsthand anthropological fieldwork method has been used in the present study. The study shows how inscribed space shapes the social-cultural life of the studied community.

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The following paper is an outcome of a research project conducted on “Anthropology of Space” in two housing complexes in the city of Kolkata in India. I am to present my write up in two different contexts: the first one of which will include my fieldwork experience in an autoethnographic form in the studied complexes. One of the two is my own residential housing complex, while the other is new one for me. Majority of the residents of these complexes are the educated middle-class Bengali people, popularly and colloquially called Maddhyabitta. The second one will complement my fieldwork experience with theoretical discourse on “Anthropology of Space,” the domain of the study. The collected information is thereafter analyzed using “semiotic cluster” and “semiotic chain” techniques. Finally, I will try to narrate the way, my fieldwork experience has led to the construction of an autoethnography in the studied complexes.