Absolute Beginners: Living as a Knowledge Worker, from the Parents’ Home to Collective Living

A synthesis of the PhD research work on the New Forms of Dwelling (Nuove Forme dell'Abitare), this article traces a short genealogy of the knowledge worker vis-à-vis the history of communal housing. The text discusses three case studies: the campus type, the soviet dom-kommuna, and the American residential hotel, three archetypes that saw different stages of the rise and the success of the intellectual worker as a social subject. By analyzing these examples, the text shows the ways certain forms of communal dwelling shaped the life and work of the knowledge worker throughout history.