Post Modernism/Contemporary Design

I personally love this style of design. It is very clean and crisp and has a lot of structure to it. Post Modernism actually replaced the International Style. It increased communication and as a result it has become an international profession.

One of the main designers of this period was Louis I. Kahn. He was an American architect from Philadelphia and one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. Some of his main projects were the New Capital of Bangladesh, the Kimbell Art Museum and the National Parliament House. One of the main things I noticed in his work was the use of natural light. He was very concerned with how it revealed form and set the tone of the interior space. All of his buildings allow a lot of natural light through creating nice form within the space.

Another architect during this time was Richard Meier. One of his main pieces of work was the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California which I actually have been to! The architecture is phenomenal and is created of mainly travertine limestone all imported from Tivoli. 

One more architect I wanted to talk about was Frank Gehry. He designed multiple buildings that I find very fascinating. He is the most well known Deconstructivist. He designed the Gehry House in LA, the Vitra Museum in Germany, and the American Center in Paris. While we were going through his work in class, I noticed the Guggenheim Museum looked a lot like the Disney Music Hall I visited in Los Angeles. Sure enough, he designed that as well!

To the left is the Disney Concert Hall and to the right is the Guggenheim Museum. Notice how similar they look and how well thought out they were designed.

Since I was really focused on the architecture for this period here are some current applications of contemporary design exteriors:

Current Applications:

Extra Video Source:

This video shows some great examples of contemporary interiors!

Reviews: I looked at Rachael's blog and I loved her current applications. I thought they reflected the contemporary style very well and they were interesting to look at. I also liked Natalie's blog because she explained the style in detail. Her history of it really helped me understand it more.

Rise of the Decorator

The Rise of the Decorator started in Paris during the Art Deco period. During this time there was a need for a wealthy class of people as well as designers to design homes that reflected class and status.

One of the main designers during this period was Elsie de Wolfe. I really liked her style and what she did with her interiors.She was an actress that later decided to go into interior design. Her main focus was restoring Victorian interiors with French furniture and lighter colors. She helped interior design separate from architecture. One quote of hers that I thought was very inspirational for designers was "I'm going to make everything around me beautiful- that will be my life."

This is one interior she designed that I really liked. The bright colors and the symmetry really work well together.

Another designer I really liked from this period was Dorothy Draper. Her interiors were even brighter and bolder than Elsie's. I personally love this kind of style because it is fun and exciting but not too overwhelming.

Her style was very fun and had a lot of patterns. However, they were balanced out with the bold statement walls.

Current Applications:

Reviews:

I reviewed Sammy V's blog and I liked her history section because it laid out the whole timeline of the period. It was very easy to understand and flowed nicely. I also liked her current applications. I reviewed Alex's blog as well and I liked how she talked about each designer and an example of each. It helped break down the period instead of looking at it all together as one.

Since I really was intrigued by Dorothy Draper's designs I found a video with some examples of her work!