Googie architecture is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architectureinfluenced by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age.[1]Originating in Southern California during the late 1940s and continuing approximately into the mid-1960s, Googie-themed architecture was popular among motels, coffee houses and gas stations. The school later became widely known as part of theMid-Century modern style, elements of which represent the populuxe aesthetic,[2][3] as in Eero Saarinens TWA Flight Center. The term Googie comes from a now defunct coffee shop and cafebuilt in West Hollywood.[4]Features of Googie include upswept roofs, curvaceous, geometric shapes, and bold use ofglass, steel and neon. Googie was also characterized by Space Age designs symbolic of motion, such as boomerangs, flying saucers, atomsand parabolas, and free-form designs such as softparallelograms and an artists palette motif. These stylistic conventions represented American societys fascination with Space Age themes and marketing emphasis on futuristic designs. As with the Art Deco style of the 1930s, Googie became less valued as time passed, and many buildings in this style have been destroyed. Some examples have been preserved, though, such as the oldest McDonalds stand (located in Downey, California) that was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 21:56:22 +0000
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