From Function to Fantasy in the New American Home

Abstract

In this paper, I describe one dimension of the semiotic space constituting “the home.” Using the case of a prominent annual show home in the United States—The New American Home—I reveal the centrality of a Real/Ideal dichotomy in the cultural meanings deployed by homebuilders as they explain their construction decisions. Over time, shifting priorities among the builders of The New American Home lead to increasing reliance on Ideal meanings of the home and result in dramatic material changes in the annual show home. Taking advantage of both textual and visual data, I describe how homebuilders use cultural meanings to explain their actions and instantiate these meanings in the houses they build. In doing so, I identify an important underlying meaning structure describing the home, and shed light on how semiotic codes are translated into material objects.

Keywords:

• Meanings of home
• construction industry
• semiotic
• conspicuous production
• model home

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on this article. She is grateful to Terence McDonnell, David Gibson, and Erin McDonnell for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper and their support of the research. This analysis also benefitted from the input of the presenters and attendees at the panel “The American Home” at the 2018 Eastern Sociological Society meetings where she presented an early case comparison from this analysis.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This annual conference is run by the NAHB and was originally called the NAHB Convention.

2 This type of construction is also sometimes called a “demonstration home,” “showcase home,” or “model home.”

3 The 2023 show home was on exhibit during the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, from January 31 – February 2, 2023.

4 Indeed, the architects and designers involved in its construction often offer variations on the primary design to suit different climates, regional styles, or family configurations.

5 Throughout this paper, I capitalize semiotic codes only when referring specifically to this dichotomy.

6 There were occasionally discrepancies between details from different sources (e.g. differences in reported sale price or exact square footage), most often between original documents and descriptions on the web archive. Wherever possible, I defer to original documents.

7 With a few exceptions, The New American Home is designed and built by a different team of professionals each year. The thirty-four houses in this analysis were planned by thirty different architects, built by thirty different builders, and decorated by twenty-one different interior designers.

8 I refer to these various housing professionals collectively as either “producers” (i.e., those who produce the home as a product) or as “program participants” (i.e., all those who participate in The New American Home program).

9 All analyses were performed using Atlas.ti.

10 In 2003, the builders constructed three townhouses for TNAH, rather than one detached dwelling, so the individual structures were smaller than the other New American Homes in proximal years.

11 While I cannot offer a definitive explanation for why the trajectory of TNAH changes around 2004, I see two possible contributing factors. This time period is during the U.S. housing boom prior to the housing bubble “bursting” with the 2008 recession, and a trend toward larger and more expensive houses was common across the construction industry. It is possible that TNAH evolved in response to this broader trend. Additionally, prior to 2003, Atlanta (Georgia), Houston (Texas), and Dallas (Texas) were common sites of the IBS and TNAH. However, after 2003, TNAH is only ever exhibited in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando, Florida. Perhaps these particular markets encourage more ostentatious construction.

12 The National Council of the Housing Industry (now called the Leading Suppliers Council) is a council within the National Association of Home Builders, focused on representing the interests of the building industry and providing members with resources, connections, and education.

13 This concern in central throughout the discourse and is reflected in the thematic category “TNAH as an industry project” and its corresponding analytic codes in Table 1.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kelcie Vercel

KELCIE VERCEL IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AT AUGUSTANA UNIVERSITY IN SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA, IN THE UNITED STATES. HER RESEARCH FOCUSES ON THE INTERSECTIONS OF MATERIALITY, CONSUMPTION, FAMILY LIFE, AND THE SELF. [email protected]