White House Indexical
The authority of the existing White House draws from a variety of sources: its Classical form, its historical persistence, its weighty program, and its symbolic function. But what if it were to stake its authority on that most tangible of intangibles – data? What if its shape changed as the data changed? What if the building itself could communicate the state of the union? What if its form, its history, its program, and its symbolism were one?
If McKim's White House was about giving the "cup" its "saucer," then the White House Indexical is about providing the cup, the saucer, the tea, and the tea's Nutritional Facts. It allows the President and her staff to physically experience the consequences of decisions that they make, and it allows the American people to see, at a glance, how the country is doing in several categories.
There are seven categories, each with its own wing. Each category is broken up into sub-categories, with the number of sub-categories being the number of folds in the wing. The total length of all the folds in one wing is 2000', enough to reach to Constitution Avenue.
Each subcategory changes in either height or length, depending on the data. For example, the fewer naturalizations, the longer the Immigration Wing, so that it stretches out as a barrier. But the fewer executions, the shorter its wing, so that if there were no executions that year you would be able to walk across its flat surface.
