(CO-)LIVING THE DREAM

Curriculum: Independent Study, California College of the Arts, Architecture Division
Date: Spring 2020  
Professors: Antje Steinmuller

This independent study examined the spatial, social, and political properties of such communal utopias, working from the hypothesis that the relationship between their ideologies (motivations) and the physical forms (manifestations) that represent them speak to the agency of architecture in promoting alternative, and more equitable ways of sharing domestic environments.

The project, conceived as a digital ‘quilt’, examines various ways people struggled and strived to live together. From communes to cults, essentially human questions of freedom, family, and industry helped shape visions of ideal communities. These communities’ alternative ways of life serve as a reflection and critique of their contemporaries and context. Lavish greenery, clean air, joy in labor, and free love are among the values many of these utopias share, inspiring a determined enlightened few to put theory to practice. But not all is rosy in the usually arid fields they occupy, nor is all work joyous, and when faced with the difficulty of life off the grid, many communities faltered and dissipated, leaving only specks of a social dream dared dreamt. This is a story about those dreamers and the tensions that arise from the manifestations of their Edenic visions tainted by forceful change, questionable determination, and ulterior motives.

Drawing from CCA classes like Graphic Novels, Architecture and/as/Representation, Darnit, and Politics of Utopia, Rhino windows are used to flatten the drawings and highlight relationships that may arise from their adjacencies. The resulting quilt is meant to present and represent stories, spark discussion, and catalyze interaction. 

Project Statement by Sayer Al Say