The Housing Project: Discourses, Ideals, Models, and Politics in 20th-century Exhibitions

Throughout the twentieth century housing displays have proven to be a singular genre of architectural and design exhibitions. By crossing geographies and adopting multiple scales of observation – from domestic space to urban visions – this volume investigates a set of unexplored events devoted to housing and dwelling, organised by technical, professional, cultural or governmental institutions from the interwar years to the Cold War. The book offers a first critical assessment of twentieth-century housing exhibits and explores the role of exhibitions in the codification of notions of domesticity, social models, policies, and architectural and urban discourse. At the intersection of housing studies and the history of exhibitions, The Housing Project not only offers a novel angle on architectural history but also enriches scholarly perspectives in urban studies, cultural and media history, design, and consumption studies.

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer Review Content).

Contributors: Tamara Bjažić Klarin (Institute of Art History, Zagreb), Gaia Caramellino (Politecnico di Milano), John Crosse (Independent Scholar), Stéphanie Dadour (ENSA Grenoble, MHAevt/EA 7445, ACS/UMR AUSser), Rika Devos (Université Libre de Bruxelles, BATir Department), Fredie Floré (KU Leuven), Johanna Hartmann (Institute for Art History–Film Studies–Art Education, University of Bremen), Erin McKellar (Royal Holloway, University of London), Laetitia Overney (ENSA Paris-Belleville, IPRAUS/UMR AUSser 3329), José Parra (University of Alicante), Mathilde Simonsen (Oslo School of Architecture and Design), Eva Storgaard (University of Antwerp), Ludovica Vacirca (Independent Scholar)

Gaia Caramellino is assistant professor of architectural history at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano. She is a member of the Board of the PhD in "Architecture. History and Project", Politecnico di Torino. Stéphanie Dadour is associate professor of history and theory of architecture at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Grenoble. She is a member of Laboratoire des Métiers de l'Histoire de l'Architecture (ENSAG) and of Laboratoire Architecture, Culture et Société (ENSA Paris-Malaquais UMR AUSser).