A Place to Call Home: RIBA Exhibition on History of UK Housing
January 17, 2012 | Levent OZLERThis spring the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) will present a major exhibition entitled “A Place to call Home,” with guest curator Sarah Beeny. The exhibition looks back over the last 250 years of the each day British home – from the first Georgian terraces through to today’s housing developments and flats. Through over 120 stunning images and drawings from the RIBA collections, along with models and advertising posters, A Place to Call Home tells the story of the many social, economic and design developments that have resulted in our past and present homes. It explores why they look the way they do, who they were built for, how they were sold to us and the impact of our home on our day to day life and sense of identity.
The UK has one of the oldest housing stocks of any country in the world. Via a time-line the visitor will be led through the many events and developments that brought about changes to our housing including the industrial revolution, the garden city movement, changes in travel, slum clearances, changing patterns of ownership, the aesthetics of modernism and its impact on high-rise housing, the role of nostalgia, urban mixed-use buildings the role of market forces in the production of contemporary housing developments. The story is illustrated with images by some of Britain’s most significant photographers social and architectural photographers such as Eric de Mare, John Maltby and Tony Ray-Jones.
The exhibition reveals how mass housing was often based upon high quality social or design ideals that were sometimes woefully lost in the final outcome. It tells us how our houses were sold and marketed to us and explains why we have gone from being a nation in 1908 when only 10% of houses were owner occupied to one in 2008 where 66% of houses were. It also tells of how enduring the “traditionally” designed house is to the British public and poses the question – are we really a nation of traditionalists or are there other factors?
The exhibition is guest curated by Sarah Beeny, tv presenter and developer, who will explore specific themes that run through the exhibition such as the role society plays as an arbiter of taste and the part that architects have played as both provocateurs and reformers.
“We spend more time at home than anywhere else. So inevitably our home has a major impact on how we live and feel about our lives,” stated Guest Curator Sarah Beeny. “This exhibition tracks the evolution of Britain’s housing to explore how over the last two centuries our homes have given us ways to express who we are. Packed with wonderful drawings and photographs, this show has something to please every home-dweller.”
The exhibition coincides with a major new inquiry from the Future Homes Commission. The RIBA has tasked the Commission, chaired by Sir John Banham comes at a time when the RIBA is working with the Future Homes Commission to analyze the future of British housing and asking why the UK has some of the smallest homes in Europe and whether the homes we are building this day meet our needs. All visitors to the exhibition will be able to contribute their views to the Future Homes Commission whose final report will be launched in September 2012.
Photos: RIBA Library Photographs Collection
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Submited at Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 12:00 am on Uncategorized by jessica
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