Moving home: changing attitudes to residency and identity

Attfield, J. (2003) Moving home: changing attitudes to residency and identity. The Journal of Architecture, 7 (2), 249-262. (doi:10.1080/13602360210155447).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This essay discusses mid-twentieth-century domestic design in Britain, reflecting on modernist reform principles that focused attention on the restructuring of social relations in spatial design through the introduction of the open plan. The reception of open plan is considered historically and in the light of recent analyses of the social meanings of domestic space. The implication of gender distinction in the design, use and critiques of domestic space, is posited as an aspect of material culture objectifying strategies of social relations. This account draws together a series of issues under the theme of 'flexible space', comparing two case studies of moving home in mid- and late-twentieth century. The first appertains to several generations of residents moving into one of the new towns of the post-war Reconstruction programme, and the second to a recent study of older people moving into retirement accommodation.

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