Master Plan: Architecture, Politics, and Power

How postwar architects asserted American soft power, development, and diplomacy through master planning

After the Second World War, American architects were frequently called upon to design master plans at many scales for public and private clients. Functions ranged from sprawling campuses and resorts to airports, embassies, office complexes, factories, and even entire neighborhoods. This book provides the first in-depth history of this seemingly routine project type, exploring how these proposals were leveraged for social, political, and economic gain during a critical period of rising Cold War tensions at home and abroad.

Drawing on original archival research into dozens of familiar and newly recovered projects across the United States and around the world, Michael Abrahamson and Joss Kiely offer an unprecedented look at the era of the master plan. Spanning the years 1945 to 1975, when the practice flourished, they highlight unpublished materials and lesser-known projects by some of the biggest names in modern architecture, including Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill; Minoru Yamasaki; Gunnar Birkerts; Harrison and Abramovitz; and Edward Larrabee Barnes. They examine designs by women and minority architects who have long been marginalized, such as J. Max Bond Jr., Chloethiel Woodard Smith, and Blanche Lemco van Ginkel.

Beautifully illustrated, Master Plan shares new perspectives on famous—and infamous—works of large-scale architecture and planning, revealing how America’s postwar architects concealed political and economic agendas within the seductive visual language of concrete, glass, and steel.