Modular Housing: Representations of Serial Construction Program around the Baltic Sea prior 1990s

Once hailed as symbols of modern progress, serial buildings are now often linked to urban decay. But what if they could hold the key to future housing models? Join this seminar series of five sessions exploring their ecological and economic potential for shaping the cities of tomorrow.

This seminar series, consisting of five sessions, will explore the significance of prefabricated buildings, particularly in the context of East and West. Drawing from a range of disciplines, including film studies, history, literary studies, rhetoric and philosophy, the series will provide a platform to examine the impact of these buildings on society and culture. The seminar series will offer a multidisciplinary exploration of the role of architecture in shaping societal and cultural developments.

Welcome: Lisa Källström, Corina Löwe, Jana Mikota, Astrid Hennig-Mohr, Ines Soldwisch. In cooperation with Ninna Mörner, Editor for the scholarly journal Baltic Worlds.

2. Modular Housing & Literature, April, 10th
Time: 18.00-20.00
Moderators: Dr. Astrid Henning-Mohr (Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany)

Hanna Henryson (Stockholm University, Sweden): Polyphony in the ‘Platte’: Form and Language in Ingeborg Drewitz’ Novel Das Hochhaus (1975) pdf, 138.9 kB.
Jana Mikota (Siegen, Germany): The (Un)Silencing of the Prefabricated Building: Insights into West German Children's and Youth Literature pdf, 202.8 kB.
Astrid Henning-Mohr (Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany): Prefabricated Buildings in Gunilla Bergström's Children's Boo pdf, 541.7 kB.ks
Caroline Merkel (Stockholm University): “Tower blocks in the fog” – Peter Handke visits Berlin’s Märkisches Viertel in 1974 pdf, 646.2 kB.

3. Modular Housing & DEFA, May, 08th
Time: 18.00-20.00
Moderator: Dr. Jana Mikota (Siegen, Germany)

Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer (Tübingen University, Germany): Children’s Life in Prefabricated Housing Estates: A salient topic in DEFA children’s films
Stephan Ehrig (University of Galsgow): Housing utopias: DEFA, mass social housing and critical operations of synthesis
Michael Grisko (Erfurt University, Germany): Zwischen Einförmigkeit, Anarchie und Abenteuerspielplatz. Eine kleine Filmgeschichte des Plattenbaus im DEFA-Film (1973-1990)
 

4. Modular Housing & DEFA, May, 22th
Time: 18.00-20.00
Moderator: Dr. Corina Löwe (Linnaeus university, Sweden)

Susanne Drogi & Raila Karst (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany) ‘Everything you do is just square, [...] in the end you become square yourself’ - Emotional experience of the “new way of living” in (Children's) Literature and Film in the GDR
Lydia Wistisen (Stockholm University, Sweden): Modular Housing in Swedish 1970s Children’s Culture
Corina Löwe ((Linnaeus university, Sweden): The “Householders of Tomorrow” – Family Scenes in GDR Children's Literature

5. Modular Housing & Visuality, June, 4th
Time: 18.00-20.00
Moderator: Dr. Lisa Källström (Södertörn, Sweden)

Andrej Kostin (University of Grenoble-Alpes, France): Should we Color the White City? Modular Housing in Soviet Coloring Books, 1950s through 1970s
Jörg Meibauer (Mainz University; Germany): The illustrated Plattenbau. Exploring the visual culture of book illustrations in GDR children’s literature
Anita Wincencjusz Patyna (University of Wrocław, Polen): Depicting Plattenbau. Children's book illustrations in the times of the People's Republic of Poland.