New Interiors for Modern Women’s Lives: The Housing Exhibition at Saffa 1958 in Zurich

By studying archival documents and conducting oral history interviews, this article shows that the organizers of Schweizerische Ausstellung für Frauenarbeit (SAFFA) 1958, a Swiss exhibition of women’s work, not only embraced contemporary modernist stylistic ideals but also suggested new spatial frameworks for contemporary forms of domestic life that could better support women. The exhibition emphasised housing, illustrating options for shaping homes by presenting model apartments and drawing attention to the virtues of homeliness. The exhibition also pushed the idea that women responsible for ‘home’ in the bourgeois understanding of gender roles should undertake activities outside their home, whether on a voluntary or paid basis.