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Story: Housing

Modernist planning

Video file

One of the objectives of modernist house planning was to save space by including built-in furniture and combining living areas. This film from 1954 shows two Napier houses that had realised this aim.

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Archives New Zealand - Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

Reference: Pictorial Parade 28. National Film Unit, 1954

Permission of Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga must be obtained before any re-use of this material.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Housing – Interior planning and living, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/38651/modernist-planning (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 3 December 2012.