Helena Mattson

Helena Mattsson, Professor in Theory and history of Architecture, KTH

My main field of research consists of 20th century theory and history of architecture, with a focus on welfare state architecture in the post-war period. My approach is broad and I often place my research in the intersection of architecture and other fields, such as economy, consumption, and welfare studies. Methodologically I aim investigating architecture from a wide range of perspectives combining studies of large-scale economic and political power structures with situated studies of processes of subjectivations and identity constructions. This method is a way to grasp the complex nexus of forces that architecture is tied to, involving for example the building industry,
Helena Mattsson will present at the symposium

Towards Performance Based Regulation: Building Codes as a Site of Organizing Life

Taking the housing area Södra Station in Stockholm City as a starting point this presentation investigates the practice of building regulations as a ‘soft field’ – a practice and a project in continuous flux. It will discuss how the codes interlace the micro- and macro-scale as they are controlling the building process and at the same time arranging the every day life, producing habits and values. The paper will look into the relations between the code and the law and how these two levels of decision making overlap, the aesthetic-spatial and the economic-political. Furthermore the chapter follows the transition from prescriptive to performance-based building codes and discusses its cultural implication on the field of architecture.