Reviews

Ashley- Ashley's blog on Post-Modernism/Contemporary design was full of information on all of the important architects and designers during that time. She went into great detail on all of the buildings and chairs that were designed that impacted this periods design style. The images she chose showed the work that was done by these famous architects and designers that really help me understand what this design movement looked like.

Stephanie- Stephanie's post on Post-Modernism was full of information on the important architects and designers as well. She included a lot of detail along with a great video on the Vanna Venturi House that was very informational. The images she included were very interesting. She not only shows examples of chairs that were designed during that time, but chairs in interiors that represented that design movement as well.

Post Modernism

The Post Modernism movement consisted of many important architects and designers. Robert Venturi thought of modernism as too simplistic and limited that equaled boredom and dullness. His famous quote is, "less is bore". He believed greatness in modern design is complexity and contradiction. The New York Five was a group of 5 post modernism architects in New York City. The group included Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Ricjard Meier. Peter Eisenman was referred to as a deconstructivist, which includes a design with a fragmented exterior with an unpredictable design. Michael Graves embraced more decorative detail with strong color and forms. He also designed some kitchen elements for Target. Richard Meier had a geometric style using the color white. A more futuristic architect was Rem Koolhaas. He had designs that included bridges, hi-tech designs and deconstructivist concepts. He designed a building called the Mansion Bordeaux that included an interior living space on an elevator that could move to several different locations. Another important architect was I.M. Pei. He rejected the ideas of post modernism and reflected designs of early modern concepts. Today, the direction of the design is becoming more green and including LEED certification.

Images:

Chippendale Chair by Robert Venturi


Teapot by Michael Graves, sold at Target


Charles Gwathmey's residence and studio

Current Applications:

Current application of Richard Meier's geometric forms using white.


Use of post beams and opening up the space.

Extra Credit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsV1axPJpLY

Review

Holli- I loved that Holli's blog was full of information on the landmarks she wanted to visit the most out of all the landmarks that were presented in class. She loaded each landmark with fun facts which made me just as interested to visit them. She covered all the information that was in the brochure of Dubai.

Tiziri- I loved how Tiziri  talked about how she has always wanted to go to Dubai and how much she loved the presentation on it. She explained which landmarks she would enjoy going to and why. I also liked the images she chose. Especially the one with comparing the different heights of the popular towers, I found that very interesting.

Bucket List

After all the groups presented landmarks from their country of choice, the country I want to visit the most is Dubai. Amanda, Paige and Rachel chose very interesting landmarks to present from Dubai. The buildings and places they researched were the Burj Al Arab, the Burj Kahlifia, Ski Dubai, The Palm Islands, the Infinity Tower, and the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Out of all of those, my favorites were Ski Dubai, The Palm Islands and the Infinity Tower. Ski Dubai was built in 2005 and is a popular hotel Dubai. What makes this hotel so popular is its indoor skiing with real snow that is year round inside the hotel. The Palm Islands were created in 2014. They added on 323 miles to the coast line of Dubai. The infinity Tower was built in 2006. It goes 1000 feet in the air and is the world's tallest high-rise building. Overall Amanda, Paige and Rachel had a great presentation full of landmarks that convinced me to want to go visit Dubai.

Images:

Ski Dubai


The Palm Islands


The Infinity Tower

Review

Megan- Megan's blog was full of information on each furniture designer of this time. Along with the information on each designer, she showed images right next to it to shows examples. I really enjoyed the way she arranged her blog and it was also very full of what we went over in class.

Riann- Riann's blog had a great description of this time period. What I liked the most were the images used. the images represented the chairs and interiors of the mid-century period very well. Overall this blog post was very well done.

Mid-Century Modernism

Mid-century modernism was from 1950-1960. The style of the architecture included flat roofs, expansive walls of glass, bi-level structures, married indoor spaces to the outside and were extremely popular on the west coast. The color schemes of this movement included warm, earthy tones that were nature inspired, such as, olive green, burnt umber, pumpkin and mustard yellow. Along with trendy colors such as, pink, gray, turquoise, black, and yellow. The furnishing were mainly made of plastics, resin, metal composites, laminates, and fiber glass. Some famous architects during this period were Joseph Eichler and Charles and Ray Eames. Along with famous furniture designers, Eero Saarinen, George Nelson, and Isamu Noguchi. Joseph Eichler was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and developed mid-century tract housing subdivisions for the average american family. Charles and Ray Eames were designers that also designed some furniture. The two manufactures during this time that sold famous furniture where Herman Miller and Knoll.

Images:

Tulip Chair by Eero Saarinen

Lounge Chair by Charles and Ray Eames

Coconut Chair by George Nelson

Current Applications:




Extra Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv7ipQdUrYk

Reviews

Amanda M: Amanda did a great job on her reflection of the Herman Miller presentation. She included information on the designers of the furniture Herman Miller manufactures. She also had great images to show some of the most unique pieces of furniture they carry and the type of fabrics as well.

Haley H: Haley's blog post on Herman Miller was full of information on the company and how it emerged into the Herman Miller it is today. She also went into detail about each architect and designer that had an impact on the company. I enjoyed the images she chose as well. She included popular furniture and important people in the images she posted.

Herman Miller

Herman Miller manufactures classic pieces of furniture. The company started in 1906 when it was called Michigan Star Furniture. At the time they only manufactured residential furniture. The company hired a store clerk by the name of Dj Depree when he was 18. Ten years later the company made him the president. In 1923 they sold the company to Depree when he was 32. Depree did not have the finances to purchase the company so he ask his father-in-law, Herman Miller to help him buy it. Because of this Depree named the company after his father-in-law. In 1930 when Herman Miller was manufacturing all residential furniture, the Great Depression hit. Depree contacted Gilbert Rohde to help him save the company. Rohde told Depree in order to sell furniture during the depression was to start manufacturing modern furniture. By 1933, the first line of modern furniture was available in Chicago, IL. Herman Miller also hired George Nelson, who designed the Herman Miller Logo, Ray and Charlie Eames, Alexander Propst, and Bill Stumpf. Over the years Herman Miller also bought out these companies: Geiger, Nemschoff, Maharam, and Design Within Reach.

Images:
 

Review

Emma- Emma's blog post on art deco was filled with so much information. She went into great detail about the style of the movement and also details on the important designers and architects during the period. I loved the images she chose for both past and present. I like how she chose a piece of furniture, an interior and an exterior to show what this movement looked like.

Micah- Micah's blog post described the style of art deco very well. She went into a lot of detail and made it very clear to what this movement looked like. I really liked how she added on information to her past images and all the images she chose represented art deco perfectly.

Art Deco and Industrial Design

The art deco movement started in the 1920s. During this movement there was tension between functionalists and decorators. The functionalists were into mass production, common person and the social good. The decorations were focused on labor intensive craftsmanship, elite market, and not concerned with the social theory. The showcase for interior design in this period included furniture, lamps, textiles and accessories. The signature accessories used during this period all had sharply angled and cubic forms, included the use of aluminum, black lacquer and glass, and used zig-zag shapes relating to electricity and radio. Some important architects and designers involved in the art deco movement were Michel Roux-Spitz, Jean Dunand, Maurice Dufrene, Jean Michel Frank, Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann, Eileen Grey, and Paul Frankl. Normandie, the French Ocean Liner, was an iconic ship that sailed from France to the U.S. and introduced the art deco style to the U.S.

Images:




Current Applications:



Extra Credit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vndL5tTTReE

Review

Stephanie- Her blog post was very well organized and written. She described the international style perfectly and incorporated photos that represented it. Overall a great blog post. Very informational.

Ashley- Her blog post explained the international style very well. She went into detail on the important people during this movement and used great examples with the photos she chose. She also described the international style perfectly.

The Emergence of Modernism: International Style

The international style began in the 1920s in Western Europe. This style had radical simplification of form, rejection of ornamentation, with the adoption of glass, steel, and concrete. The international style was also big on the transparency of buildings, its construction that was called the honest expression of structure, and has the acceptance of industrialized mass-production techniques. There were four main architects during this time: Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Walter Gropius was an architect from Germany who established his own architectural practice in 1911. His style was described as unornamented, funtional, and included an industrial feel. He was the director of the schools of fine art and applied art at Weimar. With these schools he merged them to form the Bauhaus. In the Bauhaus design, Walter included design with different materials such as wood, metal, ceramics and textiles. Mies van der Rohe was from Germany but was an American architect. He created the Barcelona Exhibition in 1929. In it he incorporated colors and textiles of rich materials to provide ornamentation, he used modern structural technology of steel and concrete and abstract work of art. When he relocated to America in 1937, he helped make modernism more mainstream. He always described his designs with his famous sayings, "less is more" and "God is in the details". 

Images: 

Designed by Watler Gropius

Designed by Mies van der Rohe

Current Applications: 

Extra Credit: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRREJp0AhKw

Review

Ashley- Ashley's blog post on Frank Lloyd Wright focused on who he was as an architect and why he was an important figure in American for his designs. She also focused on all the houses and commercial buildings that were very big in his career. I love that she showed other houses he designed that were not discussed in class. I also think she picked images that fit the current applications perfectly.

Holli- Holli's blog post was very informational. It was not just about Frank Lloyd Wright. She started with explaining the background the emergence of modernism had. When she discussed Frank Lloyd Wright, she talked about how big his designs were in America. She also went on to discuss what houses and commercial buildings he designed and gave a description on each one. She chose photos that represented the past and present very well. An overall great blog post.

The Emergence of Modernism- Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was the first major modern architect. He first started out his carrier working for Louis Sullivan. After he left Sullivan, he established his own office at his home in Oak Park, Illinois. Throughout his carrier, he designed 1,000 structures and completed 532 works. Most of his work was residential. With his "prairie style" design, he designed the Winslow House in 1893, the Hickkox House in 1900, the Robie House in 1908, the Martin House in 1904 and many more. All of his houses were significant by the use of a hip roof and a strong horizontal profile. Although most of his work was residential, he did complete some commercial buildings as well. He designed a unity temple, a building called the Rookery which housed over 600 offices, and the Johnson Wax building in 1939.

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Current Applications:



Extra Credit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbFqthFFdMw

Review

Haley H: I think Haley's blog post on Protomodernism was very informative by how she explained the characteristics of the styles with the Deutscher Werkbund Movement and the Vienna Secession. Along with descriptive detail on what those movements were like, she also touched on all of the important people during this time period. I really enjoyed her present application images she chose, they were very unique. She had all around a well written blog post. 

Happy: The way Happy organized her blog post was very helpful due to our first test coming up soon. Breaking all of the information about the Protomodernism movement into bullet points made it quicker and easier to read to grasp on the concept of what this movement was. Even though they were bullet points, the information was still very detailed and informative. I like how she also discussed some of the chairs that were iconic during this movement. Her images also are a perfect representation of the style as well. 

Protomodernism Movement

The Protomodernism movement started in 1897 and ended in 1959. This movement included projects containing the seeds of modernism. Within this movement. there was another movement called the Deutscher Werkbund movement happening in Germany and Austria. The purpose of this movement going on in Germany was to have the highest quality design to the mass produced output. This movement was also equivalent to the Arts and Crafts movement because it was because of a protest. During this time, there was a protest against artistic establishment. This was similar to the Arts and Crafts movement because in Arts and Crafts, there was a protest against the Victorian period which is what made that movement take place. The aspect that was different was while the Arts and Crafts movement was hand crafting, the Deutscher Werkbund movement was embracing the use of the machine. Another event that was taking place during the Protomodernism movement was the Vienna secession. During this secession, there were world wide advances in art, history, psychology and philosophy. This brought unity of the arts; household objects were worthy of design. An important designer during this period was Gustav Klimt. He believed that there should be a union between art and design which helped make this movement expand to a new style. Another movement that began in the Netherlands was called the De Stijl movement. This movement focused on elementary shapes, primary colors, and flat surfaces. Using these, it made this movement also focus on vertical and horizontal lines. For De Stijl, the major architect was Gerrit Rietveld and the major artist was Piet Mondriangg.

Images:

Piet Mondrian interior


Frank Lloyd Wright interior

Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass

Current Applications:



Extra Credit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBu8SM32MI

Review

Amanda M: I thought Amanda's blog on the Art Nouveau period was very informative. She explained the inspirations and the certain type of designs that are used to represent this movement. I also loved her choice of images. The image of the bench is a perfect representation to this movement. Along with that she also named all the important designers in this era and why they were such and impact and inspiration.

Amanda V: Amanda's blog summarized everything we went over in class about the Art Nouveau movement. She explained all the characteristics of the style during this period. I was able to visually picture what this movement looked like by the detail she included in it. I also think she did a great job on the current application images. They fit the Art Nouveau and our current time period perfectly!

Art Nouveau Movement

When the Art Nouveau movement started in 1890, Europe was in a period of peace and prosperity. This led up to a growth of new and experimental directions in design. The sources of inspiration for this design were flowers, birds, vines, and insects. The designers during this time were also admired by Japanese art. They were inspired by the famous paintings of Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Gauguin, and Aubrey Beardsley. The leaders of the Art Nouveau movement were Belgium and France. The characteristics established by them were rejection of Victorian styles, design style based on nature, use of modern materials for that time period (iron and glass), modern techniques (industrial production), electric lighting, and using the relationship of fine arts which included paintings and sculptures. This movement also used curvilinear forms as a dominate design. An example that was used a majority of the time was a design called whiplash. One icon during the Art Nouveau movement was Victor Horta. He was a Belgian architect, designer and teacher. His work was very extensive in this movement. His work was also the most influential during this period by using iron railings and hardware, stenciled walls and ceiling patterns, and mosaic tile patterns on the floors, walls and ceilings.

Images:

Current Applications:

Extra Credit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4luPnObQYo

Review

Alicia S.: Alicia's post on the arts and crafts movement was very informational. She described the characteristics of what furniture looked like before this era. She then explained how William Morris transformed it into the style of arts and crafts. Along with her description, she chose images that represent the arts and crafts movement perfectly. Her post was all around informational and went well into depth of what we discussed in class,

Allysia: In Allysia's post she went into great detail about what made homes during this period fit the style of the arts and crafts era. She mentioned things like the hinges on doors, cabinetry, large furniture and white walls. She was able to explain exactly what this style looked like and include pictures to back up her explanation. I also think the image she chose for her current application was a perfect fit to include the arts and crafts era along with today's modern style.

Arts and Crafts Movement

The arts and crafts movement started in England and was established in 1860 and ended in 1910. This movement broke out due to the reaction against the Victorian Period. The founder of this movement was William Morris. William Morris was influenced by the writings of Ruskin. He also was the inspiration of craft guilds. Because of this, he formed his own company called Marshall & Faulkner. It concentrated on church decoration, stained glass, textiles, and furniture. Another arts and crafts cabinetmaker was Philip Webb. He worked for Morris and also designed the chair named after Morris, the Morris Chair. The chair was a simple honest construction made up of a solid wood frame with loose cushions on the seat and back that was widely copied. Later on in the arts and crafts movement, a Scottish architect and designer named Charles Rennie Mackintosh grew his work from the arts and craft bases. He used simple constructional elements with unusual furniture and details of lighting and metal work. His chairs were significant because of the extremely high chair backs. The most important building of his career was the Glasglow School of Art in 1896. Mackintosh's style later grew toward the freedom of Art Nouveau.

Images:







Current Applications:





Extra Credit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYjNO2Y4m6c