People's Palaces : Architecture, culture and democracy in post-war Western Europe

Author Christoph Grafe investigates an architectonic typology, the cultural edifice, which must often take on the role of national identity and culture in the realisation of a democratic society. This book takes two specific projects as its subject: London’s South Bank and the Kulturhus in Stockholm. The buildings were chosen as a result of their architectural meaning, and by the fact that they appeared in two countries that fulfilled a leading role in the development of the post-war “welfare state” in Europe. Besides an in-depth analysis of the two cities within the context of their wider national and cultural development, the book includes a photo essay by German photographer Heidi Specker.