One-to-One Scale: Witnessing the Walker Art Center’s Idea Houses I and II (1941-1947)

Abstract

Drawing on previously unexplored archival material, this research paper examines how the Walker Art Center in Minnesota designed full-scale house models during the 1940s to showcase a new lifestyle to the American public. It argues that visitors to these exhibitions were not passive observers seeking entertainment, but witnesses that provided visual and oral testimony. By insisting on the physical integrity of these models—that is, their functional and mechanical viability—the museum sought to provide empirical evidence for how architecture could play a role in modern lifestyles.