(Aspiring to The American Dream through the Ideal Home)
An aspiration can be defined as a strong desire, longing, ambition or a clear hope, and aspiring to the American Dream is deeply rooted in the American culture. The theme of aspiration has been explored, investigated and discussed multiple times this semester in the Art and Diversity Class, particularly focusing on individual, societal, and governmental aspirations on creating the ideal vision of an American home within the frameworks of the American Dream. Accordingly, since the year 2000, Americans have enjoyed the largest “amount of private housing space per person ever created in the history of civilization…the dream house replaced the ideal city as the spatial representation of American hopes for the good life” (Hayden 55).
"Aerial View"
This shows that numerous Americans have been able to realize their aspiration of living their version of the nation’s ultimate goal: the so-called American Dream.
The individual plays a central role in creating her ideal vision of the home, as she aspires to create a warm, welcoming and organized house that looks tidy and orderly, creating a prosperous, safe and comfortable environment. Here, she can tend to her husband and children after they return home from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, as portrayed in the The Good Wife’s Guide: “The Good Wife Knows her Place”.
"The Good Wife's Guide"
These alleged individual aspirations are unfortunately not entirely dictated by the individual, but rather by larger societal aspirations, more specifically advertizing companies working hard to make sure their interpretations of what roles people should play and what the ideal American home should consist of are bought into. Advertizing campaigns told men that if they loved their wives, they “owed it to them to buy particular appliances. Women were told that if they bought certain items, men would love them more” (Hayden 96).
"He will Love you More"
The suburban house “seemed the only way to provide a good family life. This is what the government, the builders, the bankers and the magazines”(Wright 258) pushed people to do.
Consumerism, which translated into material wealth reflected the content of the “ideal home”, and was considered a direct route to virtue as Gwendolyn Wright wrote (1981). It symbolized social status and success in the pursuit of the dream.
"American Consumerism"
Thomas L. Friedman in “Hot, Flat and Crowded” defines consumerism as a “cultural orientation that holds that the possession and use of an increasing number and variety of goods and services is the principal cultural aspiration and the surest perceived route to personal happiness, social status and national success” (448). Owning a picture perfect home and possibly several cars, with each member of the family possessing a full closet of clothes, being surrounded by thousands of material gadgets, and possessing everything that will seemingly make lives more pleasurable is the ideal Americans still continue to follow to this present day.
There are many views and opinions on which designs or models embody the ideal aspirations for the perfect American home. Designing the ideal home means incorporating the individual’s desires, while creating a unique and distinct space, which strongly reflects an individual’s hopes and visions. In my opinion Casa Feliz exemplifies a blending or type of union between the individual, social and architectural desires as for how the ideal American home should look like. Casa Feliz brings out “an atmosphere of comfort, color, harmony, as well as a certain air of subtle distinction” (Rodgers 80). In addition, it was even built in one of the most desired neighborhoods in America in the prestigious East side of Winter Park on lakefront property
"The Ideal Home"
In this sense, the “Happy House” reflects the ultimate vision for the prefect home, as it blends in with the landscape and the larger community. When it was built it represented the ideal temple, with a strong sense of privacy and intimacy and still today brings to life the model for American aspirations and the ideal American home.
Works Cited
Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America. New York: Picador, 2009. Print.
Hayden, Dolores. Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life. New York: W.W. Norton, 1984. Print.
McClane, Debra, and Patrick W. McClane. James Gamble Rogers II: Residential Architecture in Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park, FL: Four-G Pubs, 1995. Print.
Wright, Gwendolyn. Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America. New York: Pantheon, 1981. Print.
"The Good Wife's Guide." J-Walk & Associates Home Page. Web. 02 Mar. 2012..
Images Cited
(“Aerial View of Suburbia”)
"Urban Planning." Sutmundo. Web. 02 Mar. 2012..
(“The Good Wife’s Guide”)
"The Good Wife's Guide." J-Walk & Associates Home Page. Web. 02 Mar. 2012..
(“He will Love you More”)
"Print Ads Through the Decades: The '50s." CrazyLeaf Design Blog. Web. 02 Mar. 2012..
(“American Consumerism”)
"Current Events in Europe.": America: Consumed More than We Bargained For? Web. 02 Mar. 2012..
(“The Ideal Home”)
"Celebrating the Architecture of Life Lived in Community." Winter Park, FL. Web. 02 Mar. 2012..
An aspiration can be defined as a strong desire, longing, ambition or a clear hope, and aspiring to the American Dream is deeply rooted in the American culture. The theme of aspiration has been explored, investigated and discussed multiple times this semester in the Art and Diversity Class, particularly focusing on individual, societal, and governmental aspirations on creating the ideal vision of an American home within the frameworks of the American Dream. Accordingly, since the year 2000, Americans have enjoyed the largest “amount of private housing space per person ever created in the history of civilization…the dream house replaced the ideal city as the spatial representation of American hopes for the good life” (Hayden 55).
"Aerial View"
This shows that numerous Americans have been able to realize their aspiration of living their version of the nation’s ultimate goal: the so-called American Dream.
The individual plays a central role in creating her ideal vision of the home, as she aspires to create a warm, welcoming and organized house that looks tidy and orderly, creating a prosperous, safe and comfortable environment. Here, she can tend to her husband and children after they return home from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, as portrayed in the The Good Wife’s Guide: “The Good Wife Knows her Place”.
"The Good Wife's Guide"
These alleged individual aspirations are unfortunately not entirely dictated by the individual, but rather by larger societal aspirations, more specifically advertizing companies working hard to make sure their interpretations of what roles people should play and what the ideal American home should consist of are bought into. Advertizing campaigns told men that if they loved their wives, they “owed it to them to buy particular appliances. Women were told that if they bought certain items, men would love them more” (Hayden 96).
"He will Love you More"
The suburban house “seemed the only way to provide a good family life. This is what the government, the builders, the bankers and the magazines”(Wright 258) pushed people to do.
Consumerism, which translated into material wealth reflected the content of the “ideal home”, and was considered a direct route to virtue as Gwendolyn Wright wrote (1981). It symbolized social status and success in the pursuit of the dream.
"American Consumerism"
Thomas L. Friedman in “Hot, Flat and Crowded” defines consumerism as a “cultural orientation that holds that the possession and use of an increasing number and variety of goods and services is the principal cultural aspiration and the surest perceived route to personal happiness, social status and national success” (448). Owning a picture perfect home and possibly several cars, with each member of the family possessing a full closet of clothes, being surrounded by thousands of material gadgets, and possessing everything that will seemingly make lives more pleasurable is the ideal Americans still continue to follow to this present day.
There are many views and opinions on which designs or models embody the ideal aspirations for the perfect American home. Designing the ideal home means incorporating the individual’s desires, while creating a unique and distinct space, which strongly reflects an individual’s hopes and visions. In my opinion Casa Feliz exemplifies a blending or type of union between the individual, social and architectural desires as for how the ideal American home should look like. Casa Feliz brings out “an atmosphere of comfort, color, harmony, as well as a certain air of subtle distinction” (Rodgers 80). In addition, it was even built in one of the most desired neighborhoods in America in the prestigious East side of Winter Park on lakefront property
"The Ideal Home"
In this sense, the “Happy House” reflects the ultimate vision for the prefect home, as it blends in with the landscape and the larger community. When it was built it represented the ideal temple, with a strong sense of privacy and intimacy and still today brings to life the model for American aspirations and the ideal American home.
Works Cited
Friedman, Thomas L. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America. New York: Picador, 2009. Print.
Hayden, Dolores. Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing, Work, and Family Life. New York: W.W. Norton, 1984. Print.
McClane, Debra, and Patrick W. McClane. James Gamble Rogers II: Residential Architecture in Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park, FL: Four-G Pubs, 1995. Print.
Wright, Gwendolyn. Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America. New York: Pantheon, 1981. Print.
"The Good Wife's Guide." J-Walk & Associates Home Page. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
Images Cited
(“Aerial View of Suburbia”)
"Urban Planning." Sutmundo. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
(“The Good Wife’s Guide”)
"The Good Wife's Guide." J-Walk & Associates Home Page. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
(“He will Love you More”)
"Print Ads Through the Decades: The '50s." CrazyLeaf Design Blog. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
(“American Consumerism”)
"Current Events in Europe.": America: Consumed More than We Bargained For? Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
(“The Ideal Home”)
"Celebrating the Architecture of Life Lived in Community." Winter Park, FL. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
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