In Search of Suburbia, the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, Hertfordshire
If, like the title of the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture's (MoDA) latest exhibition, you are In Search of Suburbia, then there is no better place to find it than in Barnet, north London, the museum's home.
The show is curated by Zoë Hendon and takes six developments within the vicinity of the museum as case studies through which to explore shifting interpretations of 'the suburban dream'. Immersion in the physical spaces of suburbia is guaranteed, as visitors pass rows of 1930s semis to reach the museum itself.
MoDA has also published a series of three suburban guided walks so that visitors can experience at first hand the variety of 1930s architecture in the surrounding areas of Southgate and Oakwood.
The word 'suburb' means 'beyond the city', and refers to a collection of residential buildings that are separate from, but usually economically dependent on, the urban core. But to refer to something as 'suburban' implies a value judgement rather than a neutral topographical description, and carries negative overtones.
We are bombarded by media stereotypes of suburbia that focus on status envy and cultural impoverishment, so it has become increasingly difficult to analyse the suburbs objectively.
But now that English Heritage is launching a campaign to preserve suburban architecture, Kingston University has set up a centre for suburban studies and the Greater London Authority acknowledges that the suburbs have been 'largely forgotten', it would appear an opportune moment for reassessment.
In Search of Suburbia does just this by challenging preconceptions of suburbia as a homogenous entity. It proposes an alternative view, that suburbia is 'enormously diverse, made up of a mosaic of small developments, which vary in date, appearance and intention'.
The main exhibition is housed within a single large space where objects such as contemporary adverts, maps, brochures, photographs, plans and elevations are displayed behind glass.
Following an introductory panel, setting out the exhibition's themes, the six suburban developments are organised chronologically, highlighting social change and the corresponding shifts in priority given to different selling features.
The first example of suburbia is Palmers Green, built in 1905 by the builder W Goring and promising 'good sanitation, good health and good transport'. For the middle classes fleeing the pollution, poverty and overcrowding of the city, the suburbs appeared to offer a peaceful sanctuary of family values and healthy living.
'Up-to-date' semi-detached villas with ornate fireplaces, gardens and room for a live-in servant were commensurate in design and standard with buyers' idea about their own status.
Not all developments were private. The second example in the exhibition is a 1920s council-financed estate providing 'decent homes at reasonable rent' for the working classes who served Southgate's middle-class population. These terraces of modest proportion had an ornamental front garden and a back garden used for growing vegetables.
Tenants were issued with a handbook that encouraged them to 'keep their property spic and span', hinting at issues to do with control and the policing of standards often associated with the suburbs.
By the 1930s, the priority for selling new estates was as much about labour-saving devices and 'modern' facilities as the proximity to town and a pleasant leafy environment. The 'design conscious modernity' offered by Laing included a kitchen with gas stove, boiler, sink and draining boards - designed for the 'pleasure' of the housewife and no longer the domain of the domestic servant.
But aesthetics were still important: detached or semis were preferred, incorporating bay windows and internal detailing such as moulded cornices. The emphasis on facilities was even more marked by the 1950s when integral garages, partial central heating and television points became the norm.
The Grahame Park Estate, a Greater London Council and Barnet Council flagship development of the 1960s, is probably the most controversial example of suburbia included in the exhibition. With its high-rise residential accommodation and built-in community facilities it appears to have more in common with the tower blocks of inner city London than any traditional notion of suburban living.
The final example is Enfield Island Village from the 1990s where 'distinctions between urban, rural and suburban are blurred'. The emphasis in the sales literature on community values reflects wider international concerns in urban planning about the creation of traditional neighbourhoods.
If 86 per cent of us live in suburbia, then the positive story told by MoDA must be valid. The central message seems to be that suburbia offers an enduring vision of utopia, but one that is constantly refashioned to suit our changing aspirations and lifestyle requirements.
A small companion exhibition of photographs by BA Design students at Middlesex University, called Desperately Seeking Suburbia, attempts to engage with the more contradictory aspects of suburbia. 'Once a dream place, all I see is a place for vandalism and graffiti', is one of the captions, while another student laments that 'green has bled grey and the battle against concrete has been lost'.
Indeed you only have to walk out of the exhibition to witness this loss for yourself. Semi-detached gabled properties 'upgraded' with Cotswold cladding, crazy paving driveways and gleaming Doric columns are everywhere.
This urge towards customisation and the eradication of period detail is not addressed by the exhibition. What we get from this otherwise fascinating show is a marketing perspective on suburban real estate.
What is missing is the lived experience of suburbia. What lies behind the myth of family life, leisure and union with nature? What happened to women in their segregation from the world of work? What was life like for the live-in maids of the early 1900s? A sense of place or community cannot be artificially constructed, so how did neighbourhoods evolve in reality?
The inclusion of video interviews, oral history recordings or a greater emphasis on written personal reflections could have brought the bricks and mortar to life and invested suburbia with some much needed personality.
Nicky Ryan is a senior lecturer in visual culture and theory at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London
Project data
Cost: £10,000
Funder: Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture
Exhibition design: Andy Feast, Sharon Beard
Graphic design: Bluemove
Exhibition ends: 26 March 2006
If, like the title of the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture's (MoDA) latest exhibition, you are In Search of Suburbia, then there is no better place to find it than in Barnet, north London, the museum's home.
The show is curated by Zoë Hendon and takes six developments within the vicinity of the museum as case studies through which to explore shifting interpretations of 'the suburban dream'. Immersion in the physical spaces of suburbia is guaranteed, as visitors pass rows of 1930s semis to reach the museum itself.
MoDA has also published a series of three suburban guided walks so that visitors can experience at first hand the variety of 1930s architecture in the surrounding areas of Southgate and Oakwood.
The word 'suburb' means 'beyond the city', and refers to a collection of residential buildings that are separate from, but usually economically dependent on, the urban core. But to refer to something as 'suburban' implies a value judgement rather than a neutral topographical description, and carries negative overtones.
We are bombarded by media stereotypes of suburbia that focus on status envy and cultural impoverishment, so it has become increasingly difficult to analyse the suburbs objectively.
But now that English Heritage is launching a campaign to preserve suburban architecture, Kingston University has set up a centre for suburban studies and the Greater London Authority acknowledges that the suburbs have been 'largely forgotten', it would appear an opportune moment for reassessment.
In Search of Suburbia does just this by challenging preconceptions of suburbia as a homogenous entity. It proposes an alternative view, that suburbia is 'enormously diverse, made up of a mosaic of small developments, which vary in date, appearance and intention'.
The main exhibition is housed within a single large space where objects such as contemporary adverts, maps, brochures, photographs, plans and elevations are displayed behind glass.
Following an introductory panel, setting out the exhibition's themes, the six suburban developments are organised chronologically, highlighting social change and the corresponding shifts in priority given to different selling features.
The first example of suburbia is Palmers Green, built in 1905 by the builder W Goring and promising 'good sanitation, good health and good transport'. For the middle classes fleeing the pollution, poverty and overcrowding of the city, the suburbs appeared to offer a peaceful sanctuary of family values and healthy living.
'Up-to-date' semi-detached villas with ornate fireplaces, gardens and room for a live-in servant were commensurate in design and standard with buyers' idea about their own status.
Not all developments were private. The second example in the exhibition is a 1920s council-financed estate providing 'decent homes at reasonable rent' for the working classes who served Southgate's middle-class population. These terraces of modest proportion had an ornamental front garden and a back garden used for growing vegetables.
Tenants were issued with a handbook that encouraged them to 'keep their property spic and span', hinting at issues to do with control and the policing of standards often associated with the suburbs.
By the 1930s, the priority for selling new estates was as much about labour-saving devices and 'modern' facilities as the proximity to town and a pleasant leafy environment. The 'design conscious modernity' offered by Laing included a kitchen with gas stove, boiler, sink and draining boards - designed for the 'pleasure' of the housewife and no longer the domain of the domestic servant.
But aesthetics were still important: detached or semis were preferred, incorporating bay windows and internal detailing such as moulded cornices. The emphasis on facilities was even more marked by the 1950s when integral garages, partial central heating and television points became the norm.
The Grahame Park Estate, a Greater London Council and Barnet Council flagship development of the 1960s, is probably the most controversial example of suburbia included in the exhibition. With its high-rise residential accommodation and built-in community facilities it appears to have more in common with the tower blocks of inner city London than any traditional notion of suburban living.
The final example is Enfield Island Village from the 1990s where 'distinctions between urban, rural and suburban are blurred'. The emphasis in the sales literature on community values reflects wider international concerns in urban planning about the creation of traditional neighbourhoods.
If 86 per cent of us live in suburbia, then the positive story told by MoDA must be valid. The central message seems to be that suburbia offers an enduring vision of utopia, but one that is constantly refashioned to suit our changing aspirations and lifestyle requirements.
A small companion exhibition of photographs by BA Design students at Middlesex University, called Desperately Seeking Suburbia, attempts to engage with the more contradictory aspects of suburbia. 'Once a dream place, all I see is a place for vandalism and graffiti', is one of the captions, while another student laments that 'green has bled grey and the battle against concrete has been lost'.
Indeed you only have to walk out of the exhibition to witness this loss for yourself. Semi-detached gabled properties 'upgraded' with Cotswold cladding, crazy paving driveways and gleaming Doric columns are everywhere.
This urge towards customisation and the eradication of period detail is not addressed by the exhibition. What we get from this otherwise fascinating show is a marketing perspective on suburban real estate.
What is missing is the lived experience of suburbia. What lies behind the myth of family life, leisure and union with nature? What happened to women in their segregation from the world of work? What was life like for the live-in maids of the early 1900s? A sense of place or community cannot be artificially constructed, so how did neighbourhoods evolve in reality?
The inclusion of video interviews, oral history recordings or a greater emphasis on written personal reflections could have brought the bricks and mortar to life and invested suburbia with some much needed personality.
Nicky Ryan is a senior lecturer in visual culture and theory at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London
Project data
Cost: £10,000
Funder: Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture
Exhibition design: Andy Feast, Sharon Beard
Graphic design: Bluemove
Exhibition ends: 26 March 2006
