Barbie Dreamhouse An Architectural Survey is a photo-filled 152-page study on America’s favorite dollhouse and how it reflects an evolution of design styles and domestic ideals. Sold exclusively on Mattel Creations, the collaboration is the first in-depth analysis of the Barbie Dreamhouse since its creation in 1962.  

 

El Segundo, CA. December 14, 2022 — Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) announces the release of a dynamic, unprecedented study of the Barbie Dreamhouse and its impact on American culture. The book was developed with PIN–UP, the leading publisher of “architectural entertainment,” and combines original photography and architectural drawings, as well as essays and interviews with architects, designers, and academics, exploring 60 years of material history through the lens of Barbie and her dynamic dream world.

 

This venture marks the first serious architectural study of the Barbie Dreamhouse. The book brings together leading voices that shape the discourse of architecture and design history, including Princeton professor Beatriz Colomina and Smithsonian curator Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, as well as influential tastemakers like celebrity designers Kelly Wearstler and Rafael de Cárdenas, Interview Magazine chief Mel Ottenberg, and DJ and producer Honey Dijon. The book is a cutting-edge survey balancing criticality and style.

 

Available exclusively on Mattel Creations, the 152-page hardcover art book is also a visual feast full of glossy color photography by Evelyn Pustka, whose celebrated editorial style has been featured in recent commissions by fashion brands like Louis Vuitton.

 

Barbie, with over 63 years of history, is a globally recognized influence and arbiter in the worlds of design, fashion and pop culture, offering a rich intersection for a boundary-pushing survey that combines architecture, style, and anthropology. 

 

The Barbie x PIN–UP book explores how through decades the Dreamhouse has offered a model architecture for the sense of expansive possibility Barbie inspires. Breaking from the mold of the traditional dollhouse, every Dreamhouse celebrates Barbie’s independence, with an evolution of aspirational dream homes reflecting the periods’ changing tastes and styles, from mid-century modern bungalow to post-covid fun tower. Barbie and PIN–UP both value how functionality can be merged with style and how architecture can model worldbuilding and unlimited possibilities.

 

“PIN–UP’s Barbie Dreamhouse book explores the machinations of our collective domestic fantasies through the mix of architecture history and popular culture.” 

— Whitney Mallett and Felix Burrichter, editors



 

“With the explosion of Barbiecore and the post-covid obsession with home décor, this is the perfect moment to consider the Dreamhouse’s cultural impact and legacy.”

— Whitney Mallett, co-editor



 

“Since the first Dreamhouse in 1962, Barbie’s homes have transformed and evolved, richly quoting 20th and early 21st-century architecture and design history. Our book documents the impact Barbie has had on the global architectural imagination.” 

— Felix Burrichter, co-editor

 

“We designed the book like a proper architecture monograph, with consistent photography and detailed drawings. We wanted to display the breadth of architectural styles in a very dynamic but professional way, to create the ultimate taxonomy of the Barbie Dreamhouse.” 


— Ben Ganz, designer 

                                    

The Barbie PIN–UP book will be available for purchase on the Mattel Creations e-commerce platform beginning December 16, 2022. Through the Mattel Creations platform, the company collaborates with today’s most wildly creative artists, designers, pop culture influencers to remix Mattel’s iconic toys into entirely new inspired designs and interpretations. For more information on the Barbie PIN–UP collaboration, please visit MattelCreations.com