The home is an idea that carries cultural, political, and disciplinary baggage. In this project, “the home” is referenced as both a conceptual and physical idea. Acknowledging that design both reflects and influences culture, the duality of domesticity is evident through societal preferences and universal truths. Cultural particularities and the universalities work simultaneously to create the concept of home. For instance, the appreciation of shelter and refuge is a universal fact of humanity but that we prefer sitting on a sofa rather than on the floor is a behavior of cultural particularity. Our understanding of home relies heavily on geographical and cultural systems. This project focuses on the American cult of domesticity.

 

The culture (or cult) of domesticity is a term describing the value systems that define family life, and these value systems demonstrate gendered ideas about domesticity. For example, womanhood is closely tied to issues of family life. Learning to “keep house” is in many ways a rite of passage into womanhood. The disintegration of the nuclear family as a norm and most valued structure of domestic units is apparent. However, the representation and acknowledgment of this domestic diversity is not yet consequential on domestic space in a variety of ways. These cults of domesticity have tremendous consequences on family interactions and societal behaviors.