The Post Office Is Now A House

Abstract

The Post Office Is Now A House positions the United States Postal Service’s national network of 35,000 post offices as a site for exploring two progressive policies: the Green New Deal and the Homes for All bill, which call for adapting and upgrading existing buildings and constructing 9.5 million social housing units, respectively. By integrating social housing and other public programs, such as day cares or credit unions, alongside updated postal services, the post office can continue to play a vital role in local civic life. Adapting post offices to meet these policy objectives requires a design approach that is at once repeatable, and thus nationally relevant, and highly specific, responsive to community aspirations and site constraints. Referencing the 20th century history of constructing post offices based on standard Federal plans, the project proposes a series of “assemblies,” common relationships between old post offices and new housing, which can be adapted for different sites and regions.