This spring, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is presenting a major exhibition, A Place to Call Home, with TV property expert Sarah Beeny as its guest curator.
It looks back over the last 250 years of the everyday British home – from the first Georgian terraces through to today’s housing developments and flats. The free exhibition runs from February 16 to April 17 at RIBA’s headquarters at 66 Portland Place in central London.
Through over 120 stunning images and drawings from the RIBA collections, along with models and advertising posters, the exhibition tells the story of the many social, economic and design developments that have resulted in our past and present homes. It explores why they look the way they do, who they were built for, how they were sold to us and the impact of our home on our day-to-day life and sense of identity.
The UK has one of the oldest housing stocks of any country in the world. Via a time-line the visitor will be led through the many events and developments that brought about changes to our housing including the industrial revolution, the garden city movement, changes in travel, slum clearances, changing patterns of ownership, the aesthetics of modernism and its impact on high-rise housing, the role of nostalgia, urban mixed-use buildings and the role of market forces in the production of contemporary housing developments. The story is illustrated with images by some of Britain’s most significant social and architectural photographers such as Eric de Mare, John Maltby and Tony Ray-Jones.
The exhibition reveals how mass housing was often based upon high-quality social or design ideals that were sometimes woefully lost in the final outcome. It tells us how our houses were sold and marketed to us and explains why we have gone from being a nation in 1908 when only 10 per cent of houses were owner-occupied to one in 2008 when 66 per cent of houses were. It also tells of how enduring the “traditionally” designed house is to the British public and poses the question, are we really a nation of traditionalists or are there other factors?
Sarah Beeny is a developer and TV presenter, most recently seen in Channel 4’s Beeny’s Restoration Nightmare in which she is developing and restoring a Georgian house (pictured). As guest curator, she will explore specific themes that run through the exhibition such as the role society plays as an arbiter of taste and the part that architects have played as both provocateurs and reformers. She said: “We spend more time at home than anywhere else. So inevitably our home has a major impact on how we live and feel about our lives. This exhibition tracks the evolution of Britain’s housing to explore how, over the last two centuries, our homes have given us ways to express who we are.”
The exhibition comes at a time when the RIBA is working with the Future Homes Commission to examine the future of British housing and asking why the UK has some of the smallest homes in Europe and whether the homes being built today meet our needs. All visitors to the exhibition will be able to contribute their views to the Future Homes Commission whose final report will be launched in September 2012.
The exhibition is part of the RIBA’s Home Season with accompanying talks, debates, film screenings and family events all focused on the British home: its past, present and future. Details at www.architecture.com.
