Homes for Today and Tomorrow

Britain’s Parker Morris Standards and the West Ham Experimental Scheme

Bibliographic Data

ID21875481
AuthorsSavia Palate (University of Cambridge, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume10
Issue3
Pages457-482
Publication date2022-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArchitecture and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2050-7836 • E-ISSN: 2050-7828
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/20507828.2022.2198299
OpenAlexW4378085544
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited14

Late 1950s Britain witnessed an unprecedented affordability of consumer goods which, along with a comparative increase in wages for the lower paid, led to a close convergence of middle- and working-class living standards. The home became the eminent site for the expression of this affluence, confirmed in its role by the government publication in 1961 of Homes for Today and Tomorrow, usually known as the Parker Morris Report. This new report on space standards argued for flexibility in the design of the home, which it associated with notions of freedom, individuality, and choice. The report sought to move away from standardized layout plans and from the prevailing view of housing tenants as uniform, undifferentiated subjects. This paper focuses on the building of an experimental housing project at West Ham, the first to espouse Parker Morris ideals. It does so in order to explore the difficulties involved in realizing these aspirations for housing adaptable enough to allow for acquisitiveness and individual freedom, and to ask why the recommendations of the report seemed so controversial

Art · Economic growth · Economics · Management · Middle class · Political science · Sociology · Visual arts · Engineering · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Urbanization and City Planning · Architecture

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access