The Architecture of Post-War British Homes
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck Clore Management Centre
This talk by Dr Soody Gholami focuses on social housing and architectural identity of the UK’s post-war housing development (such as Brutalist, New Urbanist, and regional architectural designs) to highlight class-related, racial and gendered aspects of specific buildings. Followed by Q&A.
Notions about British homes, and the ways they take tangible architectural form, reveal underlying national, racial, economic and gendered narratives. From “Homes Fit for Heroes” to “Right to Buy”, the UK has introduced a range of housing policies since the early twentieth century, particularly in the decades following the Second World War. In the immediate post-war period, there was an urgency for new housing attributed to mass migration, a post-war baby boom, and large swathes of housing being rendered uninhabitable by the Blitz. Brutalist architecture, characterised by its heavy and raw concrete forms, became the dominant style of many large-scale post-war housing developments in all major cities. These Brutalist structures, later reclassified as social housing, were often the first option available to working-class and migrant communities due to affordability. This talk will explore a range of British architectural styles—including Brutalist, New Urbanist and Classical—and examine how their designs embody racialised, gendered and class-based meanings within the UK’s built environment.
Contact name: Sue Wiseman
Speakers- Soody Golami
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