At the Smithsonian’s National Design Museum, a Home Is What You Make of It

When I was a child growing up in New Jersey, our home was so many things to me: a space to grow, a place that nourished me and a refuge from the hardships of adolescence. I remember that house so vividly, its swinging doors leading to the kitchen, the French doors opening to the dining room, the cozy sun parlor. But what fascinated me most was the coal bin, with a metal chute feeding coal to the basement, ready to be shoveled into the furnace that would generate so much heat even on the coldest winter day.

Memories like these speak to the form and function of design, and how homes reflect their geography and the eras in which they were built. More than that, they evoke the trappings of family, the shared experiences that define home as more than shelter fashioned from wood, adobe or plaster. The current exhibition “Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial” at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum explores the multiple roles of home and the far-reaching impact of design. Launched in 2000, the Design Triennial series features the work of artists and designers who address critical social issues affecting contemporary life.

Set up in Manhattan’s Carnegie Mansion—itself a home for the first 44 years of its existence before eventually becoming Cooper Hewitt—these installations by artists, designers and architects from across the country explore various interpretations of home. They demonstrate how home influences one’s experiences, actions and values. 

Several of the installations also prove the nation can be made better when housing design addresses challenges that have been ignored or exacerbated by factors such as housing inequity and insecurity, unequal access, and environmental threats, such as a tribute to the Indigenous Lenape people, displaced but still very present in New York. One installation displays an immersive space draped in more than 250 pounds of tobacco leaves, paying homage to the agricultural tradition of the designer’s rural Virginia upbringing. These kinds of bold ideas from creators challenge the traditional definitions of home and turn their critical and creative eyes toward issues that have an impact. This is why the series was established. 

James Baldwin wrote, “Perhaps home is not a place but simply an irrevocable condition.” To me, this exhibition shows the contrary: Home is what we make of it, what we choose to define it as. The incredible array of eras, regions, ethnicities and nationalities represented in design reminds us that there is no one way to be American. Like our language, music, art and other cultural output, our dwellings represent a wide range of styles, aesthetics and materials. This impressive exhibition shows our design choices have much to say about who we are as a nation—and who we could yet become.