At Home in Postwar France: Modern Mass Housing and the Right to Comfort

A discussion with Nicole Rudolph, Mary McLeod and Herrick Chapman After World War II, France embarked on a project of modernization, which included the development of the modern mass home. In At Home in Postwar France Nicole Rudolph argues that modernizers looked to the home as a site for social engineering and nation-building, designers and advocates of the modern home contributed to the democratization of French society, and the new French home reflected architects’ and residents’ understandings of modernity. Nicole Rudolph suggests that the modern mass home played a vital role in shaping new expectations for well-being and happiness.

Nicole Rudolph is an Associate Professor of French Studies at Adelphi University. Mary McLeod is a Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at GSAPP, Columbia. Herrick Chapman is Professor History at NYU.