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december 04, 2017

National Building Museum to Present Making Room: Housing for a Changing America

New exhibition highlights innovative housing solutions in one-of-a-kind evolving installation

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the #nationalbuildingmuseum announced the opening of clei, Making Room showcases innovative #design solutions for meeting the evolving 21st-century needs of America’s diverse households.

Unprecedented shifts in both demographics and lifestyle have fundamentally transformed the idea of the American household. Today, approximately one third of our households are single adults living alone, and the number of those who live with roommates, or in extended family situations, is on the rise. Our population is also aging rapidly and will need new housing options that can support aging in place with diminished physical or cognitive abilities. America’s housing supply, however, has been slow to respond to these extraordinary demographic shifts. While only 20% of American households are a nuclear family, our housing markets remain fixated on their needs. The disparity between the perceived and actual housing needs of our population is exacerbating the modern housing crisis—a factor few are talking about on a national level.

Making Room is a rallying cry for a wider menu of housing options. It showcases how architects, policymakers, developers, planners, and the general public can use #design as an integral tool to meet housing needs. Presented with Resource Furniture and #clei, the exhibition’s centerpiece is a one-of-a-kind, full-scale home that embodies these ideas.

The Open House
Designed by Italian architect Pierluigi Colombo/CLEI, this fully rendered 1,000-square-foot dwelling will be installed directly in the exhibition’s galleries for visitors to experience and explore. Featuring a hyper-efficient layout, smart technologies, movable walls, and multifunctional furniture, the Open House demonstrates how a flexible space can meet the needs of a variety of today’s fastest-growing and underserved households.

To showcase how this space can adapt to seamlessly accommodate three entirely different living arrangements—roommates, an extended family, and a retired couple—the interior furnishings will be changed twice during the exhibition’s run. The roommates scenario will be displayed at the exhibition’s opening.

In addition to the Open House, the exhibition will highlight cutting-edge projects that housing entrepreneurs (architects, designers, and allied housing advocates and policy makers) are taking to expand our housing options, including:

  • Micro-apartments in New York City

  • Shared housing experiments in the D.C. area

  • Backyard accessory cottages in Seattle

  • Tiny houses that are helping the formerly homeless in Austin

  • The boom in cohousing communities

“Households in the United States are changing, but housing supply and policy is not changing at the same pace,” said Chase W. Rynd, president and executive director of the #nationalbuildingmuseum. “Making Room offers the opportunity to explore innovative #design solutions to meet evolving lifestyle needs in today’s society, both through case studies and with the full-scale Open House that we are constructing in our galleries.”

The exhibition is generously supported by AARP Foundation; Andersen Corporation; Hufcor; the American Society of Interior Designers Foundation; AJ Madison, Electrolux, Elica, and Miele; Ceramics of Italy; Ditto Residential; Nixon Peabody LLP; Wells Fargo Housing Foundation; Arris Apartments; Casaplex; LISC; Protek; Ernest Rust; Wiencek + Associates Architects + Planners DC, LLP; and CHPC partners: Ollie, Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, Dattner Architects, FXFOWLE, SLCE Architects, GF55 Partners, and RKTB.

In-kind support is provided by Resource Furniture and #clei; AJ Madison Electrolux, Elica, and Miele; Andersen Corporation; Benjamin Moore & Co.; Capitol Closets; Casaplex; Ceramica Vogue; Ceramics of Italy; Duravit USA, Inc.; Ernest Rust; Geberit; Ginger; Gruppo Romani; Hafele; Hansgrohe; Hufcor; In2Green; MAPEI; Neoscape; Newfloor; Novità Communications; Opticos; Precision Door and Hardware; Protek; and Vaghi.

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