Health and Wellness

Teachers: Erik Stenberg, Jelena Mijanovic

Studio Theme Housing the DEF City Muddy and Motley Mass Housing for Millions of Homes The Housing Studio will explore and design mass housing solutions for a sustainable urban future through revisiting the historical ABCCity (and other New Towns) and by proposing contemporary solutions through the model of the DEF-City. As the post war city was expanding, a mix of Arbete (work), Bostäder (housing), and Centrum (commercial and cultural) became the model. In the contemporary city we are rather searching for a city that is more Diverse, Equal, and Fair. The studio will align itself to ongoing research networks that search for sustainable and real-life housing developments. In Uppsala we will engage in the dismantling of the Welfare State housing production and explore new ways of housing the DEF-City.

Methodology The studio will continue to map an understanding of the historical genealogy of mass housing architecture from a material, tectonic, structural and technological standpoints as well as engage in the architect’s role in designing new living environments and its effects on society. With the sustainability question in focus, the studio will deepen the understanding of how to limit the effects of architectural production on our environment.

The studio proposes a process of designing mass housing as it relates to structural and material methods intimately tied with a historical perspective while critically engaging in today’s housing debates. We think that design through knowledge in material and architectural technology implicates the understanding of tectonics and space. Our ambition is to give students a thorough knowledge of the processes and mechanics of housing in order to upgrade and improve the architects’ role in current building production. The studio will foster an empathetic attitude for the complementary roles of the architect and engineer. Our primary tools will be surveying/cataloging and drawings of both new and historical precedents as part of our mapping phase. Each semester will include a phase of identifying and researching existing examples as well as a design phase proposing new mass housing. Our teaching methodology proactively engages with contemporary practices by extensively making use of lectures and case studies. Project 1 Mass Housing in the ABC-City (and New Towns) We will map and analyze concepts and case studies of mass housing in the post war ABC-city. We will look at both Swedish and international examples of building mass housing to solve the conflicting needs and desires of housing for the masses. This will shape a foundation for our future studies of guiding principles of mass housing during the 20th century. By interpreting living conditions and structural systems, we will confront issues of dwelling, domesticity, culture, tectonics and construction. An important aspect in the first project will be documentation and communication of your research findings.

Project 2 Futures of post war Mass Housing (in Gottsunda) We will study Gottsunda (Uppsala) in detail and propose an addition, intervention, extension or complementary housing solution. We will make use of this ongoing development for the area embracing possibilities of reusing structural systems. We will adapt to a specific location with specific conditions, yet designing with systems building in mind circular architecture in the future. We will make use of the knowledge and research in P1 to alter and reframe the idea of designing mass housing implementing concepts of the DEF-City.

Project 3 Contemporary Mass Housing for the DEF-City The course will critically research questions of housing such as a commodity in an overheated housing market; housing policies, and politics of extraction. Alongside with these complicated issues we will engage and try to understand contemporary designs for housing that aim to solve housing for the masses. The course will finalize the work into an individual project booklet, which will serve as a guide for your P4 project.

Project 4 Housing the DEF-City We will design a multifamily housing project of 40-60 apartments. How can we think more creatively about how to make use of the resources at hand including materials, culture and society to provide housing that is more Diverse, Equal, and Fair? Applying methods of mass housing that previous research has located and contextualized this design task is both about designing the process from planning to building as well as all the common challenges of designing new housing. We will also analytically explore our research in the studio through writing.

Erik Stenberg ES is an Associate Professor in Architecture with 20 years of teaching experience also engaged in housing research. He has a special affinity for the Swedish Million Program Era and is currently pursuing solutions to the contemporary Housing Question in the face of climate change. Jelena Mijanovic JM is an architect and lecturer in Architecture working at Codesign. She is the founder and head of Codesign Research Studio; an independent, nonprofit research studio that investigates the architectural implications of current politics. Her work focuses on the relationship between socio-political and spatial exclusion in our society today.

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1. Student Léo Friedmann, Diploma: Saving Erskine: An Example in Circular Heritage, 2020 2. Student Mark Gavigan Diploma project: Caring abouta legacy of care 3. Student Hedvig Aaro, Studio project.. 4. Studio production Structural Systems of Swedish Mass Housing, December 2020. 5. Research project ReCreate: Reusing precast concrete. Photo credit: Helsingborgshem AB 6. Student exhibit at Stadsarkivet Liljeholmskajen, published in Arkitekten November 2019 5.