Designing Tomorrow
America's World's Fairs of the 1930s
National Building Museum
Assemble provided exhibition design for a traveling exhibition about the innovations in American design and technology presented at expositions in five American cities.
During the uncertainty of the Great Depression and the rise of fascism around the world, American corporations were compelled to present their case for the future of capitalism. Inspired visions of innovation and progress appeared at grand expositions in San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Dallas.
The fairs were celebrations of Modernist design and consumer culture that disseminated new information about science and technology. Captivated audiences discovered plans and prototypes for robots, cities and houses of the future, the first televisions and a promise for a better life.