Marina City, Chicago, Illinois, Bedroom Unit Plan

The radically new urbanism of Marina City was based in part on Goldberg’s astute recognition of the changing needs of American society. A growing number of households did not include children, women were joining the workforce in large numbers, and the reduction of working hours for most professionals led to a need to plan for increased leisure time. Marina City provided an appropriate form of housing for these urban workers, focusing on smaller apartments with a maximum of two bedrooms for unmarried singles and childless couples. This new lifestyle, or “living above store,” eliminated the need for lengthy commutes and time-consuming home maintenance, but it clashed with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) priority to support nuclearfamilies in the suburbs. Undaunted, Goldberg went to Washington, D.C., and successfully lobbied for the federal definition of “family” housing to be changed to include couples without young children and secured an FHA-backed mortgage for Marina City—then the largest in the organization’s history.