NARH
3876

My Home is Not a House!: Explorations in Alternative Housing

Schools of Public Engagement: Humanities

Liberal Arts
Undergraduate Course
Degree Students
Alternative Housing
Summer 2023
Taught By: Emily Bills
Section: A

CRN: 3270

Credits: 3

In his 1965 essay, “A Home is Not A House,” Reyner Banham declared that a home did not have to consist of four walls connected to a foundation. “Living packages” simply needed to provide shelter, but the form that shelter took should reflect a coming technological revolution, not staid and environmentally inefficient ideas of hearth and stability. Radical architects of the period imagined balloon-like living vessels you could inflate at new sites, or entire cities that roamed the world freely and plugged into settlement spots. This course explores the radical alternatives to housing people have imagined, built, and occupied over the last 125 years. These include feminist, cooperative, environmentally-sensitive, nomadic, and self-sustaining “living environments” that challenge our understanding not only of how most of us live in the United States, but also our notions of gender, racial and ethnic equality; environmental and food issues; class and capitalism; and traditional home-work lives. While some sessions provide historical examples, we primarily consider contemporary examples of alternative housing in practice today. This online course requires at least one self-led exploration to an alternative housing site in your area. Course content is delivered through readings, lectures, online discussions, and online guest speakers.

College: Schools of Public Engagement (NS)

Department: Humanities (NHUM)

Campus: New York City (GV)

Course Format: Seminar (R)

Modality: Online - Asynchronous

Max Enrollment: 21

Add/Drop Deadline: June 13, 2023 (Tuesday)

Online Withdrawal Deadline: July 21, 2023 (Friday)

Seats Available: Yes

Status: Open*

* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 8:10am EDT 5/29/2023

Meeting Info:
Building: Online Course
Room: 999
Date Range: 6/5/2023 - 8/6/2023