Abstract
This book provides new perspectives on the design of mid-century housing in Ireland
through a series of exemplary housing projects. The period is a significant one in housing design both in Ireland and internationally. Representing a high point in the construction of an international welfare state project it was also a moment where the idea that architecture could and should shape and define community and social life was not yet considered problematic. This coincided with a consolidation in the development and dissemination of what has been termed ‘situated’ modernism. Here the abstract, functionalist treatises of the interwar period generally broadened to allow regional inflections and other criteria to re-emerge. In Ireland these conditions, corresponding with significant shifts in the economic and, traditionally very conservative, rurally-orientated social realms - the end of economic protectionism, the embracing of a free market and a widening and increasingly secular cultural purview - generated a rich architectural response which has tended to be overlooked. Accompanied by new drawings and over 100 full colour images, the case studies investigated here explore the architectural forms realised and the immediate social contexts and international contexts which influenced them.
through a series of exemplary housing projects. The period is a significant one in housing design both in Ireland and internationally. Representing a high point in the construction of an international welfare state project it was also a moment where the idea that architecture could and should shape and define community and social life was not yet considered problematic. This coincided with a consolidation in the development and dissemination of what has been termed ‘situated’ modernism. Here the abstract, functionalist treatises of the interwar period generally broadened to allow regional inflections and other criteria to re-emerge. In Ireland these conditions, corresponding with significant shifts in the economic and, traditionally very conservative, rurally-orientated social realms - the end of economic protectionism, the embracing of a free market and a widening and increasingly secular cultural purview - generated a rich architectural response which has tended to be overlooked. Accompanied by new drawings and over 100 full colour images, the case studies investigated here explore the architectural forms realised and the immediate social contexts and international contexts which influenced them.
Original language | English |
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Place of Publication | London |
Publisher | Routledge Taylor & Francis Group |
Number of pages | 231 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781138216426 |
Publication status | Published - 11 Dec 2019 |
Keywords
- housing
- design
- situated modernism
- architecture
- Urbanism
- Irish architects
- Ireland