Re: America. Architecture, Propaganda, and the Dream

Abstract

The American Dream is terribly misleading. The phrase implies a singularity, as if all people share precisely the same dream. "The Dream" implied only success and happiness; it did not dictate the form that housed happiness. The form was inconsequential; it was the symptom not the realization of success. The form was meant to encourage living, not project a status. The resulting suburb may be detrimental to the environment, but the suburban lifestyle was not itself detrimental to the evolution of architecture. It was neither a definitive step backwards nor forwards. Now however, the forms and ubiquitous images associated with the suburbs have caused stagnation and no significant architectural development concerning suburban living has rivaled the 1950s propagandized model. The purpose of this thesis is to reinvent the formal concept of "suburban" living in a manner which does justice to the "American Dream" and the individuality of all the "dreamers."