Z E M C H 2 0 1 2 I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e
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Corbusier was hammered for his brutal use of hard surfaces like concrete. Yet in his own
timber cottage he showed how mild he could be and what a human approach laid behind
his work (Fig.4). He was fighting escalating costs and his remedy was to build compact
and rational housing schemes.
Figure 4: Le Corbusier’s two-person timber cottage at Cap Martin, Cote d’Azur, Compact and only 16m
2
.
Photo: Røstvik.
Decades after his death, towards the end of the century a trend towards fighting rising
housing costs for students saw designs where a similar rational approach was applied,
that of using retired steel shipping containers as a module basis and stack them on top
of each, cut out window and door areas while connecting them through bridges and
stairs (HELSEL 2001). Several such projects emerged and argued for a new life for
retired steel shipping containers (MC LEAN 2008). They became well-published and
given the nickname “Future Shacks”. Their compactness, sustainability driven
recyclability, low costs and module based character inspired architects in many countries
to search for less material and manpower production methods for housing. This was
exactly what Selvaag attempted sixty years earlier (SMITH 2006).
Compact sustainable mass housing to combat a “no hope future” mentality
As discussed earlier the current economical turmoil in many European countries is
leading to a compressed family dwelling pattern. Many young people have to act; they
move home to their parents in order to deal with lack of income. In countries with youth
unemployment around 50 percent, it is crucial to offer hope in the future in order to inhibit
a “no hope future” mentality from spreading. This can be done through the rethinking of
the design of the minimum need housing unit, a unit of bare necessity, as a start up unit,
a unit that is based on bank loans from institutions with patience and agreements
offering the young to take its time to work themselves out of the crisis. This is not
possible as long as contractors keep building speculative housing based on a size and
cost level that only the affluent can afford, while everyone else stays in the hands of the
moneylenders, the impatient bankers.
In other countries with a more – for the time being - booming economy, similar
challenges occur. Soaring housing prices resulting from increased site and construction
costs have landed on a level making it difficult for young people to get into the housing
market unless they have parents that guarantee for them or in other ways supports
them. Norway is an example of such a country. As a result a two-class system has
emerged; those that have parents that can help and those that don’t. This division is
unhealthy and in a social democratic nation where more or less the same party (Labour)
