Housing as pretext - Martin Steinmann: Writings and teaching

Architect, critic, architectural historian and professor Martin Steinmann (1942–2022) was one of the pre-eminent intellectual representatives of the Swiss architectural scene. Known above all for his phenomenological and semiotic thoughts on contemporary Swiss architecture, his writings on housing are relatively unknown. Despite this fact, for Steinmann housing was the entry point or, as he put it, a “pretext” for understanding the influence of architecture on society. In view of current demands in terms of densification and sustainable design of urban environments, this approach is more important than ever. The possibilities of different social groups living together are fundamentally influenced by housing and its physical manifestation in urban design. Steinmann analyses historical forms of housing such as workhouses and mezzanine apartments along with cuontemporary housing projects in order to forge links between traditional forms, social and economic conditions, and cultural norms. This publication explains Steinmann’s teaching methods, bringing together his essays on the subject of housing, some hitherto unpublished and others long out of print.