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It
began as a housing marvel. Built in 1956, Pruitt-Igoe was heralded as
the model public housing project of the future, “the poor man’s
penthouse.” Two decades later, it ended in rubble – its razing an iconic
event that the architectural theorist Charles Jencks famously called
“the death of modernism.” The footage and images of its implosion have
helped to perpetuate a myth of failure, a failure that has been used to
critique Modernist architecture, attack public assistance programs, and
stigmatize public housing residents.
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth seeks to set the historical record straight. To
examine the interests involved in Pruitt-Igoe’s creation. To re-evaluate
the rumors and the stigma. To implode the myth.
“Shattering.” – The New York Times
“Devastating…an engulfing real-life horror story. Stings with an electric poignancy.” –The New Yorker