Project Description
Project Objectives: Condition 1: Despite its essential and central importance to a democratic political system, voting does not have places permanently and specifically designated and designed for it. There are no places exclusively conceived, designed, or built for voting. Casting a vote does not have a unique architectural expression. Common US voting centers or polling places are schools, shopping malls, grocery stores, community centers, public libraries, fire stations, and governmental buildings. Learning, shopping, buying groceries, meeting others, reading, and governing have specifically imagined and conceived places in the US. Voting does not. People have to make room to be able to vote. Condition 2: Despite the widespread social agreement among Americans about the importance of owning property, most voting in the US occurs in leased, rented, or borrowed places. The most essential act of the political system does not have a permanent location in cities, suburbs, towns, and villages across the US. The most critical action of the political system has no permanent place in the public imagination of US citizens. Objective: The objective of this research is to document the few instances when architects have conceived and designed buildings exclusively for the act of voting, thus empowering and strengthening it.
Tasks and Responsibilites
The selected student will assist with the following research questions: 1. Election offices The National Conference of State Legislatures states that "more than 230,000 polling places were used in the 2018 general election," and "less than 1% of those locations were election offices—the vast majority of polling places were at other sites, such as schools or churches." • Where are these election offices typically located? In what parts of the city? • In what type of building are they typically located? Are they independent buildings or inside large governmental buildings? • What do they usually look like? How does architecture enable, present, and express the act of voting? 2. Buildings exclusively designed for voting In the history of architecture: • Which buildings were designed exclusively for voting? Consider the Athenian Greek period (VI c BC), early Modern democracies (1760-1820), the beginning of the XX c (1900-1930), and the civil rights period (1960-1980). • What principles were used to design them? 3. Furniture designed for voting In the recent history of the US (1960-2020): • What furniture is used for voting? • Who designs it?
Desired Qualifications
None Listed.