Children as Symbolic Figures in Welfare Space Photography

Through a special focus on children, the article examines how ideas and notions about welfare architecture were expressed in photographs in the magazine Arkitekten in the period 1930–1970.

The word welfare architecture is of more recent date, but this project shows that ideas and notions of a connection between space, architecture and welfare have a longer history. Through a study of photographs from the magazine Arkitekten, the article documents that children in particular appeared as symbolic figures in the photographs.

The intention was often to signal that what we would today call welfare architecture created orderly spaces for care and education. Others of these photographs are more open in their meanings and show the architecture as a space of opportunity that is not necessarily subject to clear goals.