Friday, October 9, 2009
House of the Future: consumer product?
The House of the Future in itself, was an experiment in plastic, the new material of the time. Because the building was seemingly all plastic, and was filled with plastic products, it very quickly took on the nature of a consumer product. This is most evident in the fact that it was meant to be mass produced and transported easily on a truck. The problem with this is that the house had very limited flexibility. It was not composed of elements that could be combined in different ways. Instead, it was a series of shapes that were designed to fit together to create only one form. Because of its singular shape and limited options, it was destined, like any consumer product, to be replaced by the newest model. Colomina compares the House of the Future to a "glossy ad" which promoted a product that would be popular for a time, but would soon be abandoned in favor of a more modern substitute.
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The House of the Future would have an overall negative impact on consumer products. The innovation of plastic, at the time of the proposal, inspired the architects to wholly design with the material properties in mind (inexpensive, lightweight, etc). The exterior of the house is clad in plastic with a similar interior. In effect, this limits the consumer products inside of the house. This negatively impacts consumerism for several reasons; in order to fit uniformly to the house, products will have to conform to the plastic standard. Additionally, it will limit the companies able to produce these types of products; thus decreasing consumer options and variability. The microcube project by Horden, although different in intention, illustrates how uniformity in the interior of the unit lends itself to non-expressive function and decreased consumer options.
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