“The right question to ask, respecting all ornament, is simply this: was it done with enjoyment?”
~John Ruskin
As this unit began, people still explore what it means to be modern. There was a notion of the exotic previously and a desire to be in a place of elsewhere. Not the notion was borrowing on the natural world. According to William Morris this was a medieval revival which was true architecture. In the Red House, William Morris allows the space to rely on the warmth of wood, and the exterior is asymmetrical to resemble the outdoors. This leads to the arts and crafts and the aesthetic movement. Art becomes much apart of space where objects depict value. Interior spaces should be completely decorated which implies an ideal life. An environment which has been altered are the spaces people desire. This raises a question of what’s surfaced and what’s substance.
~John Ruskin
As this unit began, people still explore what it means to be modern. There was a notion of the exotic previously and a desire to be in a place of elsewhere. Not the notion was borrowing on the natural world. According to William Morris this was a medieval revival which was true architecture. In the Red House, William Morris allows the space to rely on the warmth of wood, and the exterior is asymmetrical to resemble the outdoors. This leads to the arts and crafts and the aesthetic movement. Art becomes much apart of space where objects depict value. Interior spaces should be completely decorated which implies an ideal life. An environment which has been altered are the spaces people desire. This raises a question of what’s surfaced and what’s substance.
As the 19th century comes about, many changes occur. There are changes in society where population increases. A scientific development occurs. The industrial revolution allows for new materials- concrete, iron, and steel. These changes alter the interior and the sense of privacy. New ideas occur such as the elevator and the bay window. With new technology, the focus no longer is about ornament but the machine.
Though the industrial revolution pushes design further, the question of whether or not to look forward or backward still arises. Art Nouveau is the first movement to look forward. It embraces new material and does not look back to classic or medieval precedents. Hector Guimard mentions that “it is not the flower to take as a decorative element, but it is the stem.” This idea looks forward rather than backward to typical past design movements. The idea that it is no longer the typical flower which is seen beautiful rather the stem is a surrealistic idea that changes the way one looks at design. The machine becomes a part of decoration in interior spaces. It portrays the moving line and a new fluid style.
The Art Nouveau movement was not popular in the United States, except in decorative. Art Deco started in Paris and soon became popular in elsewhere. It consisted of humorous and the theatre, layers and tiers, and a notion for speed and movement. The movies played a huge role in the influence of design. The movies inspired buildings to look like a set one would see in a movie. The set on the screen was a place of elsewhere, a glamorous place which everyone longed for. It becomes a time of explosion of color and a sense of worldliness. The machine also plays an important role. It transforms the meaning of architecture, purifying forms back to geometry. Design was sleek-so sleek that the past slides right off.
However, what happens when a legacy is handed to the next generation? This matter of fact alters design again. The 20th century becomes a crisis of what good design is about. People look backward to the Crystal Palace and the Eiffel Tower for inspiration. Design tries to move beyond modernism and instead play with forms and textures. However, sometimes too much focus on form and texture leads a design that is not functional.
http://www.rebuildglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/suburbia.jpgIt seems as though the crisis is not in modernism, instead the 20th century is an era in which many design languages are occurring that no specific one is apparent. Even today, people are always looking back to what they think good architecture is. People never seem to see the good in what is happening in the moment. In such a short period of time, many life changing events occur altering design tremendously. In our last meeting as a class, it was mentioned that people have this innate feeling to want to go back to the “good ole days.” People strive to move forward in design, yet want everything to be how it used to be. Today, we are in the suburban era where people design for themselves and want everything to be fast and fit their needs. Maybe this era does answer John Ruskin’s quote that design now is done with enjoyment. However, it seems this era has lost a sense about design in itself. Maybe people will recognize this missing link. Who knows what the next design movement will be. I am sure it will continue to look back to the past. Who can say what the “good ole days” consisted of. Design will continue moving forward and looking backward. It is not a crisis but an uncertainty of what is happening in the now.
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