Alternative Domesticities was an exhibition and accompanying public discussion which presents three mid-century housing projects across the central belt of Scotland: Cuthill Housing in Prestonpans, Park 3 West in Cumbernauld, and Southfield Housing in Barnton.

These projects are all associated with the Housing Research Unit based at the University of Edinburgh during the 1960s and collectively propose experimental reconfigurations of domestic space, at both the scale of the individual home and the neighbourhood.

The work is recontextualised through a new series of images, by the architectural photographer Fredrik Frendin, documenting the buildings as they exist today. This contemporary photographic survey is exhibited alongside a series of drawings of the originally constructed designs.

These considerations - as well as the historical background, relevance, and significance of the work - was discussed in a public dialogue with the historian Alistair Fair and the architect Fiona McLachlan.



All photographs © Fredrik Frendin