[Book Review]: Habitat et cadre de vie à l’époque moderne, edited by the Association des historiens modernistes des universités françaises (original) (raw)
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Houses for Whom?: Between the Habitat and the Inhabiting, on Henri Lefebvre’s Quest
La Casa. Espaços domésticos. Modos de Habitar, 2019
In this communication we will analyse the concepts of habitat (which stems from a morphological description) and inhabiting (an activity, a situation), having as main reference the thinking of Henri Lefebvre. We will analyse two of the main actors of this process: the architect, who builds a space, and the individual who will live in it. For that, we oppose one of the main concepts from the Modern Movementthe concept of function, which aims for an almost total rationalization of spaceto the idea of appropriation, a key notion in the approach of space from sociology and anthropology. We will present some examples of different forms of space appropriation that reflect two levels of analysis: Appropriation at the individual-familiar level and Appropriation enclosed in a totality. These examples help us think about the dichotomy between lived-spaces and built-spaces, and to gain awareness of the importance of architecture as mediator of an established society or as creator of a new society.
Sustainable Dwelling. Between Polyvalence and Empowerment, 2019
In a context of increasing individualization of our societies, dwelling has developed to become largely a personal feat. Hence, housing can no longer be considered exclusively from a traditional household perspective. Given this context, a combined analysis – both spatial and social - of several housing projects was carried out by researchers in architecture and the humanities. Two projects - La Sécherie in Nantes and Kalkbreite in Zurich - were selected for their use of a particular conception principle: ‘reduction/extension’. This principle implies organizing a dwelling between two poles: a reduced domestic nucleus and a series of additional spaces. Based on this principle, a multiplicity of dwelling configurations can be imagined. All are grounded on the idea that living could take place beyond the traditional limits of housing. Combined with a spatial analysis, a post-occupancy exploration was carried out in both projects, shedding light on the constraints but also the potential of the ‘reduction/extension’ principle. The benefits of this ‘reduction/extension’ principle are twofold. First, dwelling can evolve given the constellation of possible housing configurations. Second, inhabitants are able to make their own dwelling choices. This combination of domestic polyvalence and dwellers’ empowerment is a key for sustainable housing designs.
The domestic interiors to which we are accustomed do not constitute eternal norms, instead resulting from complex evolutions of which an essential phase occurred in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century. There, new modes of dwelling shaped – and were shaped by – the distribution, decoration and furnishing of space. The emerging taste for domesticity was paralleled by an expanding appreciation for the representation of interiors and their inhabitants. These images come close to a representation of daily realities, yet retain a selective or reconstructed vision that requires detailed analysis. Beginning with a study of Dutch houses and paintings – and eventually extending to their eighteenth-century reinterpretations on a European scale – this seminar will investigate the pleasures, constraints and aesthetics that shape experiences of the domestic interior. Weekly topics, such as cleanliness, disorder, privacy, surveillance, and material culture, will allow us to uncover connexions between the work of celebrated painters (Vermeer, Chardin, Hogarth) and the daily realities of inhabited space.
The Notion of Housing Need in France: From Norms to Negotiations (19th–21st Centuries)
Urban Planning, 2022
This article aims to show how the concept of “housing need” has circulated between the social sciences and architectural design fields in France since the second half of the 19th century up until today. France is a particularly rich example for developing this sociohistorical overview over a long span of time, through three time periods: the beginning of housing policy which, during the hygienist period and in legal devices and statistics, defined “good housing” as opposed to inadequate housing; the debate surrounding the notion of need illustrated through an examination of mass construction since the beginning of the 1950s, in particular, that of large social housing estates which developed in response to the housing crisis and the increase of slums; and the contemporary period, that raises many questions faced by architects and urban planners concerning the persistence of forms of inadequate housing and the development of individual aspirations for well-being.
The Social Project: Housing Postwar France
2014
In the three decades following World War II, the French government engaged in one of the twentieth century’s greatest social and architectural experiments: transforming a mostly rural country into a modernized urban nation. Through the state-sanctioned construction of mass housing and development of towns on the outskirts of existing cities, a new world materialized where sixty years ago little more than cabbage and cottages existed. Known as the banlieue, the suburban landscapes that make up much of contemporary France are near-opposites of the historic cities they surround. Although these postwar environments of towers, slabs, and megastructures are often seen as a single utopian blueprint gone awry, Kenny Cupers demonstrates that their construction was instead driven by the intense aspirations and anxieties of a broad range of people. Narrating the complex interactions between architects, planners, policy makers, inhabitants, and social scientists, he shows how postwar dwelling was caught between the purview of the welfare state and the rise of mass consumerism. The Social Project unearths three decades of architectural and social experiments centered on the dwelling environment as it became an object of modernization, an everyday site of citizen participation, and a domain of social scientific expertise. Beyond state intervention, it was this new regime of knowledge production that made postwar modernism mainstream. The first comprehensive history of these wide-ranging urban projects, this book reveals how housing in postwar France shaped both contemporary urbanity and modern architecture.
Autrefois cantonnées aux principaux centres-villes, les Maisons du Peuple deviennent, après la Première Guerre mondiale, un accessoire indispensable aux nouvelles municipalités qui se développent à la périphérie des villes. Ce processus est à mettre en parallèle avec les évolutions et changements survenants dans la structure même de la vie urbaine. Les Maisons du Peuple étaient en effet des hybrides d’architecture et d’intention, utilisées afin d’apporter une certaine homogénéité entre le caractère architectural et urbain des centres-villes et l’identité des banlieues de circonscription. Les Maisons du Peuple deviennent donc un sujet idéal pour étudier la façon dont les architectes et urbanistes modernes entretenaient le réseau complexe de relations entre l’esthétique, la technologie, la politique et le mécénat. Une analyse synthétique des stratégies architecturales et urbaines déployées afin de faire des Maisons du Peuple un élément déterminant dans l’établissement des nouveaux centres municipaux en périphérie de Paris est proposée ici. Car des efforts des architectes ne résultent pas uniquement une approche des Maisons du Peuple comme marqueur identitaire politico-social, mais aussi des tentatives de donner forme aux positions culturelles d’avant-garde et à la modernité elle-même.
Book Review: House Life: Space, Place and Family in Europe
Journal of Family History, 2000
Has a change of residence ever turned your life upside down? Our family of four has recently moved from a Victorian house in rural Quebec, with its characteristic arrangement of enclosed rooms and specialized spaces, to an urban 1960s bungalow in British Columbia, with an open plan and multipurpose rooms. Nearly all of our domestic routines have changed in the new house. For example, since the British Columbia house offers little acoustic privacy, we all wake up at once; we now tend to watch television during meals, since the dining and living areas are combined; and outdoor activities take place in the backyard, which is isolated from those of our neighbors by tall hedges. Our former home, on the other hand, like so many others of its type, had a generous front porch, providing plenty of opportunities for chance encounters with both neighbors and strangers on the street.
Housing Studies, 2018
This article intends to present the notion of comfort as a central element in housing policies. Comfort is liable to an analysis in terms of governance and enrichment of the Housing Regimes theory. Thereby it develops in the first part a socio-historical analysis of housing standards production patterns in France from the 19th century to current day. It distinguishes the hygienist period, the modernist period and the environmental period. For the latter, it shows how private and institutional stakeholders operate. In the second part it analyses the results of a qualitative and quantitative survey of one thousand French homeowners. It reveals the various acceptations of the notion of comfort and the diverse integration of the energy conservation targets in practices. A new social differentiation appears through the capabilities to use new technologies and control the environment.