At a recent launch of the book ‘Domesticity Under Siege’, Georgina Downey, one of the editors explained:

“I guess we were tired of how the last vestiges of ‘home as haven’ seem to still cling, unquestioned, behind a lot of even recent writing on modern domesticity. They seem to cling in ways that don’t reflect the current fragile state of interiors, and the homes that envelope them, in these troubled global times.”

The words ‘Domesticity’ and ‘Interior’ welded together summon thoughts and ideas about domestic space, including boundaries, enclosure and control. Collectively they generated the material for the book. However, as Downey also cautioned:

“Domesticity is not home, home is not a house, and the house is not interior and domesticity is none of them!”

The opportunity to expand and advance the book’s subject provides the impetus for this International Architectural Conference at the University of Brighton, April 2 – 4, 2025.

 We are living through global events; migration, poverty, expulsion, displacement, and resettlement. We are seeing systematic and extremely violent wars against the houses and homes in cities forcing refugees to remake homes in other places, other countries, and other continents. For displaced people, notions of home, security, stability, and safety can be difficult to realize. Impacts of climate change with regular droughts, floods, earthquakes, and cyclones affecting homes as they are erased, suffer long-term damage and short-term disruption. New technologies and ubiquitous computing challenge notions of the home as a stable entity since traditional patterns of occupation and activity now revolve around screens, voice activation systems and robotics. The threat of home invasions necessitates security systems with cameras both inside and outside the home offering a degree of protection but inadvertently suggesting the home is now a streaming platform to be viewed remotely. 

 The International Architectural Conference April 2025 looks to extend the four core themes presented by the book, as outlined in the conference call, and to gather material for a further publication that will deepen the exploration of these themes through new research, critical discussions, and diverse perspectives from the field.

More info:

https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/domesticityundersiege/