Shelter from the elements: Architecture and civil defense during the early Cold War

This dissertation traces a developing partnership between architecture and government during the early Cold War, when United States civil defense agencies formed mutually beneficial partnerships with professional architects. Chapters examine: 1950s research on blast-resistant structures; a nationwide survey, begun in 1961, by which architects determined the inherent fallout protection of existing buildings; design competitions and programs intended to educate and persuade architects to design and plan for fallout shelter in new construction; and finally, a series of publications and architectural awards programs that celebrated real buildings that incorporated fallout shelter.; Civil defense relied on architects to demonstrate how plans for protecting citizens in the imagined aftermath of nuclear attack were based on the material realities of building construction and everyday spaces. By providing this foundation for civil defense, architects hoped to bolster the profession's leadership in the production of the built environment. This participation in planning for national security gave architects access to expert status in the Cold War United States.; But the architecture profession's embrace of the civil defense project was never total. Dissensus within the profession began with debates over urban decentralization for defensive purposes, and culminated with protests over the involvement of architects in a national fallout shelter program. This architectural resistance drew on public debates over the implications of a civil defense program for home front militarization, but focused on internal disputes over the architect's proper role in society and responsibility to the nation.; Nevertheless, the partnership between architecture and civil defense succeeded in producing a discourse about shelter and national security that both guided professional practice and laid down a framework for interpreting the cultural meanings of public buildings. In conclusion, a detailed case study of a single building which embodied a defensive ethic and aesthetic, Boston City Hall, is used to show how this discourse framed the conditions of possibility for the production and reception of buildings and space during the Cold War.