The Dollhouse
Spring 2024
Dollhouses, while rooted in architectural representation, have historically been excluded from architectural discourse, relegated to the devalued realm of the frivolous and feminine. With a complex history connected to craft, education, and play, dollhouses have commonly been perceived as mere reflections of existing social hierarchies. However, this perception tends to overlook the creative agency wielded by people, usually girls, as they engage with dollhouses, reinterpreting their functions and challenging norms. Crafted traditionally at a scale of 1:12, these miniature homes intricately capture different aspects of our domestic environment. Within the walls of a dollhouse, the architectural container often assumes a secondary role, with primary importance placed on the objects it holds. This perspective stands in contrast to conventional architectural representations, which frequently idealize pristine spaces, disregarding their lived-in realities. Instead, within a dollhouse, our most intimate spaces are shown with the objects, memories, and messes that define them, fully on display. Thus, the dollhouse is situated as an important tool for learning how we conceive, design, and inhabit spaces. This project aims to reframe our understanding of what architecture is through the lens of the dollhouse, highlighting the fact that spacemaking is defined by the interplay between everyday objects and human interaction.