The Subprime Monument
by Eduardo Martínez-Mediero Rubio (MArch ’19)
The tower is organized by the layering of various 20th-century American housing typologies that exemplify the social and economic structures of their time while evidencing the linear evolution of the house, constantly changing after every crisis. The balloon frame is taken as the epitome of American hous- ing construction, utilizing its ephemeral aesthetic to address the fragility of an economic system that cannot again rely on the unstable foundation of the housing market.