Atomic-age Housing. The Fallout Shelter in Cold War America

Immediately after the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic warhead in 1949, the Cold War forced the United States into a permanent state of defensive alert. In 1958, the Civil Defense Administration launched the Family Fallout Shelter campaign, distributing millions of booklets showing Americans how to build their own do-it-yourself atomic shelter. Newspapers, magazines, architectural journals, exhibitions and television programs were soon filled with drawings, photographs and models of atomic shelters in all sorts of shapes and materials. The paper explores ideas and images, focusing on the role of architects in making shelters look less gloomy and providing them with alternative uses pending the nuclear apocalypse, or in devising structures completely below ground, from models of cities, such as Atomville, designed by Paul László, to residential prototypes, such as the Underground Home displayed at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair.