Duplex apartments: a modern idea about housing and the proposal of a housing typology

ABSTRACT This paper proposes to understand how the idea of modern life came about in the architectural exploits of the modernist movement, with duplex apartments as an object of analysis. The spatial arrangements linked to the duplex typology were originally related to the idea of economy in construction and to modernist discourse on the functionality of spaces, which pointed to new domestic practices by considering women’s foray into the labor market and their reduced role in the organization of home and family. Examples from various housing complexes were analyzed from the standpoint of the building’s projects and the context of their construction. The starting point was the Soviet building Narkomfin (1928) and the diffusion of the ideas of minimal housing in the national and international context. Housing complexes and apartment projects from the 1920-1960 time period were surveyed, in order to understand the emphasis given to each section of the house and how, over the decades, the underlying ideas materialized in different cultural contexts. This paper also proposes to establish a format course of the duplex typology, encompassing the circulation of ideas, transformations, and adaptations to different cultural contexts.

摘要 本文旨在探究现代主义建筑创作实践中现代生活理念的形成脉络，以复式公寓（duplex apartments）为分析对象。与复式户型（duplex typology）相关的空间布局，最初与建筑经济性理念以及现代主义空间功能主义话语紧密关联：该话语通过考量女性进入劳动力市场的现状及其在家庭组织与维系中角色的弱化，提出了全新的家庭生活实践范式。本文从建筑设计方案与建造语境的视角出发，对多个住宅综合体案例展开分析，研究起点为1928年建成的苏联人民委员会公寓楼（Narkomfin），以及极简住宅（minimal housing）理念在国内与国际语境中的传播。本文还调研了1920至1960年间的各类住宅综合体与公寓设计方案，以期厘清该时期住宅设计对房屋各功能分区的侧重，以及数十年来核心理念在不同文化语境中的具象化路径。此外，本文尝试构建复式户型的形式演变脉络，涵盖理念流转、形态变革以及对不同文化语境的适配调整。