American System Built Homes: An Examination of a Historical Failure
Architectural agreements, often overlooked, can provide both historical and political elements that determine the success or failure of a project. The American System-Built House's contracts and agreements between The Richards Company and their dealers provide two primary scopes that elude to the failure of the precutting system meticulously designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Agreement Breakdown
This visualization focuses on the breakdown of the American System Built Contracts, the breakdown of the two scales will reveal the failures of the project.
American System-Built Contracts
The Dealer's Territory Agreement was a contract between The Richards Company and its dealers. When broken down, this contract reveals three agreement scopes; territory, building, and advertisement.
The ASBH Building Contract was used to bind both parties on a project-to-project basis. This document identifies how to handle for-seeable issues regarding liabilities, and further outlines the duties of each party.
This physical scope can be further studied through historical accounts, government reports, and a careful examination of the American System-Built advertisements.
Building & Location Scale
Financial & Advertising Scale
This scale can be examined through the careful dissection of the contracts involved with the American System-Built Houses, as they reveal various party-particular liabilities and financial obligations.
Intra-Scope Analysis & Speculation
Analysis across both scopes of research reveals weaknesses and conflicts within the American System-Built Houses. Issues regarding territory assignments, building markets, and fragile contracting result in a system with a weak spine.
