How Should I Live?:Architectural Dissemination in Modern Danish Advice Literary

This paper investigates the dissemination of housing architecture in mid-twentieth century Danish advice literature. During this period, a significant number of such books were published in Denmark, addressing and promoting the new housing ideals of the Modern Movement (or, Functionalism, as known in a Scandinavian context). The books were written by authors with diverse backgrounds, including architects, designers, and journalists, and targeted at a broad readership, yet primarily women and young people who were about to establish a household. <br/><br/>In these books, readers were given advice on topics such as housing, interior design and decoration, home making, home economics, and housekeeping. Several of the books also included descriptions and assessments of buildings, often seen in a historical perspective. For instance, Hvordan skal vi bo? (How Should We Live?, 1931) by Ove Boesdal, based its advice and instruction on what was coined as “the normal Danish apartment,” thereby adhering to an idea of architectural standardization. To the contrary, Bosætningsbogen: En grundbog for studiekredse (The Residence Book: A Primer for Study Groups, 1953), edited by Inge Dahlsgård, M.K. Michaelsen and Viggo Sten Møller, emphasized people’s different needs but also a general need for “hygge” (coziness) whilst also discussing housing as a commodity. Hvordan skal jeg bo? (How Should I Live?, 1957), edited by Jesper Engelstoft and Niels A. Svanberg, included a chapter on “the houses we live in,” addressing multi-storey buildings and their apartments from different time periods and belonging to different typologies. <br/><br/>The paper argues that advice literature was a significant source of architectural dissemination. A tool for educating critical consumers and for raising general awareness of architectural quality in the general Danish public. Furthermore, the books demonstrate a view on architecture influenced by notions of typology and development, that is, by a modern ideal of progress and growth.