Fallout Shelter

The fallout shelter located below the main Lansing library rekindled my fascination with Cold War architecture and obsolete spaces.

Fallout shelters were once part of a larger network of "Civil Defense." Unlike Homeland Security, the CD services actually attempted to find ways to prepare and recover from emergency situations. The pressing matter of the day was nuclear attack from the Ruskies. American public buildings found innovative ways to integrate fallout shelters into their plans. Homeowners stocked their basements with the supplies necessary to survive a long period of nuclear fallout. If you're not lucky enough to live or work at a fallout shelter equipped building then you can look up the nearest one.

With the end of the Cold War and the declining threat of nuclear warfare, interest in fallout shelters plummeted. Most home shelters were turned into recreational spaces containing bars, exercise equipment, and sofas.

The fallout shelter is an example of a space created for survivability. It's political roots in the Cold War are undeniable, it is a unique and easily identifiable symbol of that conflict's legacy. In this War on Terror we are now immersed in there has been no equivalent. Americans have responded with magnetic ribbons and a few other gimmicks, but nothing to compare to the endurance of the fallout shelter.