Criteria for Mass Housing

devised by Alison and Peter Smithson for Team X First published 1957, revised 1959

The term Mass Housing applies to all dwellings not built to the special order of an individual: houses over which the occupier has no control other than that he has chosen or has been chosen, to live there: houses for which. therefore, the architect hâs a peculiar responsibility.

The criteria are intended to apply to all housing irrespective of number, type of ground occupation, type of access. etc. etc. The most conventional houses and layouts, and the most ingenious can equally well come under their scrutiny.

The House

1  Can it adapt itseli to various ways of living? Does it liberate the occupants from old restrictions or straıghtjacket them into new ones?

2  Can the individual add 'identity' to his house or is the 'architecture' packaging him?

3  Will the lampshades on the ceihngs, the curtains, the china dogs, take a*ay the meaning of the "architecture"?

4  Is the means of construction of the same order as the Standard of living envisaged in the house? Is the technology suitable to house construction: does it ta!>e account of electrical runs and do vvith-out tradıtional 'style-left-overs', such as door frames?

5  Are the spaces moulded exactly to fit their purpose? Or are they by-products of structural tidiness or plastic whim?

6  Is there a decently-large open-air sunlit space opening directly from the living area of the house? Is there a place in the open-air where a baby can be left? (0-3 year  olds).

7  Can the extensıons of the dwelling (garden, patio, etc.), be appreciated from inside?

8  Can the weather be enjoyed? Is the house insula-ted against cold weather yet made to easily open up in good weather?

9  Is there a place where you can clean or wash things without making a mess in the house?

10  Does it take account of the 3-5 years olds' play?

11  Is there enough storage? (there ıs never enough storage)—that is storage not of a purely residual nature (lofts, 'buill-in' fittings, etc.). Is there a place lor the belongings peculiar to the class ol the occupants—poodles, lerrets, camping gear, geran-iums, motorbikes, etc.?

12  Is it easy to maintain (keep fresh looking with just a cleaning down)?

13  Is the house as comfortable as a car ol the same year?

14  Can the houses be put together in such a way as to contribute something to each other?

The immediate extensions of the dwelling

1  Has the relationship between the dwelling and its means of access been chosen for some good reason?

2  Does this reason include three- to fıve-year-olds play, if not, where do they play?

3  Does the idea for the dwelling produce an absolutely clear external image?

4  Can these images add up to a composite one and is thıs composite one socially valid (that is, is it done lor some present-day human reason).

5  Are the extensions ol the dwelling—gardens. patios, balconies. streets, access galleries, stair-cases, etc - sensible when one considers the existing physical environment of the dwellings and the activities of the occupants (topography and living pattern)? Are the gardens and streets necessary to the life of the occupant or are they irrelevant to it?

6  Is 'delivery' and 'collection' antiquated and laborı-ous? (milk, groceries. heat, refuse)?

7  Is there any indication that vvhere people have been put into the air ('flats') that it is really getting them somevvhere?

Does the public vertical circulation really vvork?

8 Is it a labour to go out or return home?

9 İt the development was isolated - would it look like a camp?

The appreciated unit

1  Is the scale ol the unit related to the size ol the parent community? (The pattern ot a village can be transformed by the addit'on of one hcuse; in the great city an equivalent gesture might need a unit of 5,000 houses).

2  Is the work-pattern of the community understood vvith ali its implications for the unit? (A work-pattern of all-family travelling to vvidely separated places is typical ol cities and towns and otten also of villages.)

3  Does it fit the site with its clımatic and physical peculiaritıes. its existing built and human structure, and accept their ecological implications bearing in mind that we are concerned with renewal

4  Where do the 5-12 years old's go to? And vvhat do they have to do?

5  Can the unit support shops? And vvhere are the natural 'pressure points' lor such facilities? Are the community facilities a secial mirage or are they real?

6  Can November 5th be cclebrated (or Bastille day or 4th July)?

7  Is there something vvorth looking at out of every dvvelling or does one merely stare out at another dvvelling opposite?

8  Does the development offer protection and shelter of the same order as the parent community?

9  Is the unit really generated by an objective study of the situation or are vve just saying that it is?