The City in Dispute: Collective Experiments around Social Housing in Southern Europe 1949-1976

‘The City in Dispute: Collective experiments around social housing in southern Europe (1945-76)’, Barcelona, Spain. La Virreina, Centre de la Imatge. Photo by Pep Herrero.

4 March – 18 June 2023, Palau de la Virreina, Barcelona

Curated by María García Ruiz and Moisés Puente

‘The City in Dispute: Collective experiments around social housing in southern Europe (1945-76)’, Barcelona, Spain. La Virreina, Centre de la Imatge. Photo by Pep Herrero.

This exhibition interrogated the methods architects used to create social housing, and their results. Focussing on Southern Europe, especially Italy, Spain and Portugal, it compared the circumstances that prompted new building, and the actual mechanics of getting these projects built. By drawing together material from various archives, countries and eras, it shed new light on each, working towards a greater understanding of the both the challenges faced and hope created by these projects.

Read our review here.

Álvaro Siza (1933), Plan, S.Victor SAAL, Porto. Coloured pens on paper, 305 × 430 mm. DMC 3467.2.

The City in Dispute Exhibition Brochure

This exhibition includes several sheets of drawings by Álvaro Siza from the Drawing Matter collection. A lightbox containing images of these can be viewed here.