The breakthrough of the 21 degrees culture in Denmark. Undoing and doing gender in Danish home making after 1945

The energizing of Danish homes after World War II introduced a new heating culture, which paved the way for new lifestyles. Modernist architects tried to implement the dwelling as an ‘objective’ or non-gendered space – in contrast to the Victorian home - or at least they pursued the possibility of freeing the housewife from her hard work of maintaining the home and thereby encouraging a more individual lifestyle. However, as I will show, the process of energizing Danish homes after WWII did not comply with this vision. Everyday life changed and so did gender roles, but the home did not turn into an ‘objective’ space.