Normalizing the Home. A Synchronic Comparison Between the Ikéa Catalogue and God Bostad
Normalizing the Home. A Synchronic Comparison Between the Ikéa Catalogue and God Bostad
Author(s): Rebecca CarraiSubject(s): Architecture, WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Art
Published by: Universitatea de Arhitectură şi Urbanism »Ion Mincu«
Keywords: catalogue; manual; architectural formats; Swedish post-war history; IKEA; normalization; gender; bed culture; housing;
Summary/Abstract: A concise, handy “how to” book, the manual as a format, has a long history in the architecture field, which one might consider having evolved in its structure and circulation from Alberti’s De re aedificatoria [On the Art of Building]. As Mario Carpo suggests, Alberti’s treatise “did open the way for the 16th-century standardization of the system of the orders.” It encouraged the ongoing trend of sharing predetermined architectural notions, “from top to bottom,” from an authoritative voice to the supposedly instructed reader. Increasingly used by canonical institutions, organizations, and state architects, to lead trends, suggest ideal dimensions, hygienic standards, and house the average family, this tool facilitated the reconstruction of European countries, the creation of welfare state systems, and contributed to the identification of architecture - within which dwelt the housing question - mostly a matter of space-saving solutions, and rational planning.
Journal: sITA – studii de Istoria şi Teoria Arhitecturii
- Issue Year: 2021
- Issue No: 9
- Page Range: 29-50
- Page Count: 22
- Language: English
