Housing, Prefabrication and Export – the Architecture of Reconstruction in Times of Crises

The HoPE-project examines the role of exported prefabricated houses and their architecture in the aftermath of crises, learning from the experiences of the Finnish company Puutalo oy’s housing export to Poland and Israel in the post-war decades. The aim is to examine how the prefabricated wooden houses functioned as a means to process crises, as war and natural disasters, both in the exporting and the receiving countries, developing data for future crisis reconstruction based on the historical information. The material consists of drawings and data in the Puutalo- and national archives and on-site documentation and interviews in Puutalo-communities in Poland, Israel and Finland. The analyse combines interdisciplinary methodology and new technical solutions as GIS-mapping and geo-questionnaires with theories on architecture, national identity and cultural heritage to examine the mechanisms involved on both societal and individual levels when the temporary structures were made into homes.