IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Abstract

The building culture of the welfare state is facing radical transformations. Changes in climate, demographics and in types of households place new demands on our built environment. Meeting these changes, it is essential that we can identify the particularly representative examples from this period which are to be identified as cultural heritage for the future. Today, more than half of the Danish population live in single-family homes. This paper will be based upon a case study of a suburban detached house development built in 1970 in Ishøj. This specific development consists of 93 individual houses all build as part of an exhibition: Archibo II, with examples of both individual homes drawn by architects and mass-produced homes. The development is located within ‘Fingerplanen’, Copenhagen’s urban development plan, and can be seen as a representative for the suburban single family housing developments in the 1960s -70s. The official criteria for listing and valuating, ’Vejledning – vurdering af fredningsværdier’, SAVE (Survey of Architectural Values in the Environment) and SAK (The SAK method of screening cultural environment) has so far not been able to embrace resent building culture. The argument of this paper implies the suburb having a distinct character, which suggests a particular assessment method emphasizing the relevance of the sociological and cultural-historical narrative as of equal importance when valuating the building culture of the welfare state. The paper discusses architectural quality acknowledging that the values we assign to objects and places are ever changing.