“Develop good, affordable housing for everyone – especially for people who are in difficult circumstances, waste as little material as possible, use the latest knowledge in the design and construction process, and research the current essential requirements that a home must meet by studying the behavioural patterns of the inhabitants...” 

Given the present-day shortage of good and affordable housing, this formula for the ‘minimum dwelling’ could be at the forefront of current government policy. Yet this concept, and the social ambitions behind the idea, are a century old.

Back in the 1920s, when the concept of the minimum dwelling was developed, the ‘traditional Western family’ (consisting of a heterosexual couple with two children) dominated society. Today’s reality and social structures are far more nuanced. To quote the research programme Catching Up with Life (Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2021): 

“We might live alone, unmarried, childless, and for longer; we might live with our partner’s children, with strangers and siblings, with multiple generations in the same home; we have a more fluid understanding of gender roles, of work, and of love.”

If architecture can be seen as a support or a hindrance to emerging patterns of social relationships, how is it impacted by these transformations, and how does it inform our ideas about how to live together?