Collective housing in Scandinavia - How feminism revised a modernist experiment

Abstract

In this paper the Scandinavian, mainly Swedish, experience of experimental housing with shared facilities is discussed in the light of current reconsiderations of the modernist paradigm in architecture. The modernist collective housing writ, based on services through employed staff is compared to the new type of communal housing, based on the inhabitants' own collective work developed after 1975. Both models are analyzed in relation to changes in family structure and sex roles. It is argued that, although both types have been advocated by women, the collective work model is mom in line with current feminist goals.