Contemporary: Architecture and Interiors of the 1950sThis book provides a full definition and examination of the so-called Contemporary style that dominated architecture and design from the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. It was an era of optimism and confidence, where the new ideas in architecture and design flourished alongside - and were nurtured by - the emergent consumer culture. The Contemporary style was fresh and liberating, manifesting itself in the picture window and the open plan; in vibrant fabric design and printed wall coverings; in new forms of furniture from Scandinavia and stylish light fittings from Italy; and most tellingly in the Contemporary kitchen with its fitted units and mod con appliances. Far more than a collection of Fifties nostalgia, this book provides an entertaining and revealing survey of trends in taste and interior design at the time of economic regeneration that affected not only people's homes, but their communities and their public buildings. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
achieved advertisement aesthetic American architecture and design areas Arne Jacobsen bathroom became blocks Britain British centre ceramics chairs Charles Eames churches cladding clients colour construction Contemporary Corbusier Craig Ellwood create creative curtain wall decorative arts designed by Charles dining room domestic Eames House Eero Saarinen Europe example exterior feature fireplace floor Frank Lloyd Wright functional furniture designed glass heating Herman Miller House designed houses built idea installed John Entenza kitchen Knoll layout Le Corbusier living room London manufacturers Marcel Breuer modern architecture modern house Modern Movement Modernist modular Museum Nelson and Wright open planning Opposite Owings and Merrill panels patterns Pier Luigi Nervi plastic popular produced public buildings range reinforced concrete Richard Neutra Right Rohe roof room divider Scandinavian schemes schools sculpture space steel structure Study House number style tableware technical terrace textile texture tiles Tomorrow's House traditional visual wallpapers wood wooden World York