Dogma

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Loveless

‘Minimum dwelling’ commonly refers to an extremely reduced space for living, often associated with typologies such as the micro-flat, the micro-home, the studio apartment or even a miniature version of the typical family house. This typology was strongly criticized in 1932 by the Czechoslovakian critic and poet Karel Teige in his book Nejmenší byt (The Minimum Dwelling). In opposition to the minimum dwelling as a reduced version of the traditional flat, Teige proposed an alternative: a collective dwelling in which every adult would be provided with a ‘minimal but adequate, independent, habitable room’, where all domestic services such as housekeeping, cooking and childcare would be collectivised. For Teige, the minimum dwelling is not an apartment but a room fully supported by shared domestic facilities. Teige was highly influenced by the widespread proliferation of hotel living and workers’ lodgings in major European and American cities between the 19th and 20th centuries. While he acknowledged that these types of living were often determined by the increasing pauperisation and precarity of the working class under capital, he also saw the potential for a new form of life in which domestic labour would be socialised and no longer be the ‘private’ work of the family. His idea of collective dwelling was thus a radical version of these precedents, which he saw as instrumental in changing the habits of dwelling towards an egalitarian society freed from the burdens of family living, domestic labour and private property.

In Loveless we expanded on Teige’s dialectical understanding of this type of housing by tracing a history of the minimum dwelling, from monasteries to residential hotels, from kitchenless apartments to contemporary lodgings. Through 50 studies, Dogma’s goal is to provide a genealogy of a contradictory typology which has represented both luxury and poverty, freedom and oppression, solidarity and solitude, emancipation and exploitation. The development of the minimum dwelling runs parallel to the rise of capital and the consequent mobility and precarity of work and life.

Minimum dwelling and its discontents, 2018

Loveless

Minimum dwelling and its discontents, 2018

Karel beige's diagram of a collective dwelling (1932)

Loveless

Karel beige's diagram of a collective dwelling (1932)

Pierre Le Muet, Small Townhouse, 1623

Loveless

Pierre Le Muet, Small Townhouse, 1623

Cornelis Meijer, one-person apartment, 1689

Loveless

Cornelis Meijer, one-person apartment, 1689

Robert Morris, small townhouse, 1757

Loveless

Robert Morris, small townhouse, 1757

Pond and Ponds, boarding club at Hull House, 1889

Loveless

Pond and Ponds, boarding club at Hull House, 1889

Charles Israel, ‘The Century’ bachelor flat, New York (USA), 1901

Loveless

Charles Israel, ‘The Century’ bachelor flat, New York (USA), 1901

Herts & Tallant, Carlyle Chambers in New York, 1901

Loveless

Herts & Tallant, Carlyle Chambers in New York, 1901

Warren & Wetmore, Biltmore Hotel in New York, 1913

Loveless

Warren & Wetmore, Biltmore Hotel in New York, 1913

Alexander Pasternak, communal house, 1927

Loveless

Alexander Pasternak, communal house, 1927

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, housing prototype for professional women, Frankfurt (Germany), 1927

Loveless

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, housing prototype for professional women, Frankfurt (Germany), 1927

OSA, high-rise communal house proposed for the city of Avtostroj, 1929

Loveless

OSA, high-rise communal house proposed for the city of Avtostroj, 1929

OSA, low-rise communal house proposed for the city of Avtostroj, 1929

Loveless

OSA, low-rise communal house proposed for the city of Avtostroj, 1929

Moisei Ginzburg and OSA, house for the State Planning Committee (Gosplan), 1929

Loveless

Moisei Ginzburg and OSA, house for the State Planning Committee (Gosplan), 1929

'San Diego's Baltic Inn' SRO, San Diego, 1987

Loveless

'San Diego's Baltic Inn' SRO, San Diego, 1987

Absalon (Meir Eshel), Living space, Tokyo, 1992

Loveless

Absalon (Meir Eshel), Living space, Tokyo, 1992

Andre Branzi, 'Casa Madre' co-housing, 2008

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Andre Branzi, 'Casa Madre' co-housing, 2008

Loveless

Team

Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara, with Marson Korbi, Barbara Mazza, Antonio Paolillo, Lilian Pala, Mariapaola Michelotto

Client 

Design Museum, London

VAI, Antwerpen

2018