Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream

During summer 2011, five interdisciplinary teams of architects, urban planners, ecologists, engineers, and landscape designers worked in public workshops at MoMA PS1 to envision new housing and transportation infrastructures that could catalyze urban transformation, particularly in the country’s suburbs. Teams—led by MOS, Visible Weather, Studio Gang, WORKac, and Zago Architecture—focused on a specific location within one of five “megaregions” across the country to come up with inventive solutions for the future of American suburbs. The 2012 exhibition featured the proposals developed during the architects-in-residence program, including a wide array of models, renderings, animations, and analytical materials.

Studio Gang’s project, Garden in the Machine—developed with a team of experts on subjects ranging from finance to environmental remediation—proposed strategies for the revitalization of the inner-ring suburb of Cicero, Illinois, a former factory town that has struggled with the foreclosure of industrial properties and homes. Garden in the Machine demonstrates how the remains of Cicero’s industry can be reimagined as healthy, thriving neighborhoods that best suit the needs of residents.