Capital A: The Market, Cultural Desires, and the Ever-changing Face of Architecture
Architecture, or more specifically the architecture surrounding commerce, has made a shift from being manufacturing based to more consumer based. Anna Klingmann, in her book Brandscapes – Architecture in the Experience Economy, argues that this shift has only happen in the last decade or so. While the prominence of this phenomenon has become readily apparent in the more contemporary contexts, the idea of a brand – or a lifestyle that revolves around a product or company – has been an integral part of architecture for some time. Klingmann makes many valid points, and I agree with most of her argument, but I would like to step further back in time to analyze
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Post-war America was thriving on a new consumer culture. The 40-hour work week increased income, manufacturing turned back to goods, and spending from the populous was growing. The creation of Levittown heralded in a new era for architecture. It marked a desire to create a lifestyle, to project an image about oneself. Architecture began to take a more active role in this new economy, and responded to the creation of Levittown. The Case Study movement, and the resulting “Mid-Century Modern” design that stemmed out of it, projected an architecturally influenced lifestyle. It was fun, it was sexy, and it was luxurious. Exploits of these architects were proliferated through stylish periodicals. Hugh Hefner broadcasted the design influences, as well as his lifestyle, to homes across the country on “Playboy After Dark.” The show brought together designers, products, music, and lifestyle in one place. A synergistic approach was starting to be created, long before Starbucks created such a …show more content…
In many cases, we are still developing objects that sit in a field, and do not fully integrate the community or attempt to create an identity for the larger public. A great example of this is Farshid Moussavi’s Museum of Contemporary Art in Cleveland, Ohio. Creating a large obsidian form that rests in the Cleveland landscape, the structure is autonomous. It doesn’t attempt to extend out and have any intervention with its surrounding context. Its brand, or what semblance of one that it has, is purely self-contained. Taking Robert Somol’s idea of the logo in architecture – and skewing it just a bit – this project creates something that could become a logo, or start to brand the area that it’s in. We have an iconic form that could become an image or pattern that flows through the streets, tying together disparate elements and creating an urban lifestyle that revolves around the museum. Instead we get architecture that is afraid to integrate and permeate in ways much larger than just the
Gehry draws his inspiration from famous paintings such as the Madonna and Child which he qualifies as a “strategy for architecture” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 42) and which he used as an inspiration for a project in Mexico . Through his interpretation of the paintings and artwork, Gehry looked for a new kind of architecture. His search for a new type of architecture culminated in 1978 with his own house in Santa Monica. What was once a traditional Californian house would be redesigned to become one of the most important and revolutionary designs of the 20th century, giving Gehry international prestige and fame. Frank Gehry’s “Own House” uses a mixture of corrugated metal, plywood, chain link and asphalt to construct a new envelope for an existing typical Californian house. This house has been inspired by Joseph Cornell, Ed Moses and Bob Rauschenberg. Gehry comments on his house by saying that there was something “magical” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 54) about it. He admits having “followed the end of his [my] nose” (Friedman M. , 2003, p. 54) when it came to constructing the “new” house, which led Arthur Drexler, former Director...
Dell Upton is a historian and renowned professor of architecture and Urbanism at the University of California. He has published several books on architecture; one of them is “Architecture in the United States”, published in 1998. In this book, Upton analyzes the architecture of the United States in different aspects, such as nature, money and art, thus depicting the great variety in architectural forms, and how throughout the decades, different interests have lead communities to different ways of building, different purposes and materials, thus reflecting their way of thinking and their relationship with the environment. By exploring so many different architectural styles, Upton reveals the great diversity and richness that has always, and continues to characterize American architecture.
Avi Friedman. 1995. The Evolution of Design Characteristics during the Post-Second World War Housing Boom: The U.S. Experience. Journal of Design History. Volume: 8. Issue: 2.
From the conventional Victorian dresses of the 1800’s to the rock-and-roll tee shirts of the 1980’s, American culture has experienced incredibly diverse trends in clothing. This ever changing timeline of fashion provokes the question: what is the cause of such differing styles? By considering the state of society throughout the era, it can be seen that clothing directly correlates with the current way of life. Specifically, American women’s fashion of the 1920’s and 1930’s proves to not simply be a meaningless trend – but rather an accurate reflection of the specific era. As the stock market booms and society prospers, women’s fashion undergoes drastic change during the 1920’s.
Duncan’s (1991) analysis of western museums is defined through the theme of “durable objects” as a criterion to judge the heritage of American and European art as a ritual of the modern state. In this manner western art museums are built like “temples” as a symbolic and figurative representation of greatness of western culture throughout the world: “[They] are more like the traditional ceremonial monuments that museum buildings often emulate—classical temples” (Duncan 90). This interpretation of American/European museums defines a dominant source of cultural heritage that ritualizes
Smith, C. Ray. Interior Design in 20th-century America: A History. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. .
The Tampa Museum of Art was not always the same museum that we see today. It went through multiple stages throughout the years. The works vary, creating a large spectrum from the old to the new. The social angles change with the exhibits in the museum, combining to create the diversity we see today. Visiting this museum in person helped me to appreciate it even more than I would have thought possible. Observing and analyzing the other visitors helped me to understand the museum’s impact on the community more than I would have been able to just by reading about it. This museum is much different from others than I have visited.
...heir work acknowledged when Terence Conran’s Habitat opened in 1964, resulting in the world of design becoming an increasingly inclusive place, no longer ruled over by a select committee of self worshipping forces. The culling of past British styles signified the return of faith in British design, which had been lost amidst the previous decade’s infatuation with Modernism. This symbolised the sealing of the wounds of World War II and its oppressive aftermath, whilst the sometimes seemingly irrelevant twists applied to these past styles, which gave 60s design that unique futuristic feel, encompassed the optimistic flare that dominated the decade. But with the realities of the Vietnam War and the home hitting, drug fuelled deaths of 60s musical icons Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison penetrating the feel good bubble, could this exuberance continue to thrive into the 70s?
each logo that was created by him has different visual appearance but delivers his design in the same style. Each logo was reproduced because of its lack of identity because of its previous logos. Companies like IBM, UPS, and Enron, would like to show their identity through the visual appearance of their logo that represents them. As technology grows, the medium changes in designers’ world. As the generation and trend changes people’s taste also change, we as designers should adapt to the trend and recreate, but at the same time recreating logos can also be a disadvantage as well.
Commercial architecture does it respond to the identity surrounding it? Or does it merely respond to the conditions of Globalization? In order to answer the question above, in the following written piece I must explore the key elements of globalization and identity. I intend to relate both factors to commercial architecture, using the Hilton Tower in Manchester as a prime example. This written piece will effectively be split into two parts (Globalization and Identity).
It has become impossible to avoid marketing and branding. Everywhere a consumer turns, they are being persuaded and influenced by all sorts of symbols, logos, slogans etc. These aspects of a brand create the culture we live in. “The effect, if not always the original intent, of advanced branding is to nudge the hosting culture into the background and make the brand the star. It is not to sponsor culture but to be the culture.” 30 no logo. Humanity has become one large sponsored event, making it impossible in order to escape.
In this essay, Johnson’s underlying concept of dwelling will be discussed based on the aspects that can be seen in his masterpiece, the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. The Glass House remains as the epitome of modernism, its simplicity and purity of form that is different from early architectural styles in the United States. In the years since its completion, the Glass House has maintained its good reputation on critics, architectural historians, and other architects. (Cite) According to Johnson, there are seven crutches of modern architecture that need to be considered when designing a building.
Case Study: Villas of the 1920’s Le Corbusier and Alvar Alto both designed villas with an idea on modern architecture during the twentieth century. While both designed villas based on their views of twentieth century modern architecture, these villas are very different and are represented in a multitude of different ways. The Villa Savoye, by Le Corbusier, and the Villa Mairea, by Alvar Aalto, are both examples of great architecture during the 1900’s that are both comparative in their own nature. While Corbusier focused on hovering volumes, mechanization, and his five points of architecture; Aalto focused on organic architecture and the beauty in curving and unpredictable lines. This differentiation resulted in Le Corbusier’s style to be the
The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore For those who believe that planning is not a basic instinct for both individuals and organizations, and those who believe in marketing the concepts and benefits of good planning, The Experience Economy by Joseph Pine II and James Gilmore is the appropriate book to read. The book was first published in 1998, but the authors have gone ahead to publish new editions. The book is also of great importance to people who are charged with the responsibility of ensuring economic development in the community and also to business persons. Pine and Gilmore assert, “The Service Economy is peaking. A new, energized economy is coming to the fore, one based on a distinct kind of economic output.
In its simplest form, corporate identity is a function of design that includes the name of the organization, its logos, the interior of the buildings, and visual identification such as uniforms of the staff, vehicles and signage. For a long period, graphic designers have remained highly influential been hugely influential in two regards, in that they articulated the basic tenets of corporate identity formation and management and succeeded in keeping the subject on the agenda of senior managers. Currently, symbolism, or design, has assumed a greater role and has moved on from merely increasing organizational visibility, to a more serious position of communicating corporate strategy (Ollins, 1978). There were now three main types of visual identity such as Monolithic (single brand visual), Endorsed (parent brand endorsing a sub-brand) and Branded (a plethora