Contemporary Design

Frank Gehry is one of the most well-known Deconstructivists. Deconstructivism is postmodern architecture that began in the 1980s. Not only has Gehry designed some of the most amazing buildings during this design movement, but he has received many awards for his work. 

Gehry House

One of his most famous works is actually his own house in Los Angeles, California. It was renovated from 1978-1988 and was originally built as a bungalow home in the 1920s. He wanted to explore new options with the materials he was already using. He chose to wrap the house in a new material but still have the old material showing. Most of the neighbors were not happy having such an odd looking home in their neighborhood.

Guggenheim Museum

Another one of his famous pieces is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. When presented with the project, Gehry was told to make it daring an innovative. One thing that really stands out are all the curves. Gehry wanted this all to be random, and used them mostly to catch light. The museum is made of glass, titanium, and limestone.

The main goal during this design period was to use materials in ways that we normally wouldn't use them, to make shapes that we normally wouldn't see on buildings, and to make pieces of art out of buildings. You can see in this two other buildings that are similar to Gehry's pieces, that all architects have the same concept in mind.

Rise of the Interior Decorator

In the past, interiors were put together by the architect. Throughout time though, home owners were wanting more of a professional to focus on good use of space and the user's well being. It was mainly just the upper class that would use Interior Decorators. There are 3 people that really founded the career and made it what it is today from their expertise and style. 

The House in Good Taste - 1913

Elsie de Wolfe was one of the first Interior Decorators. She was educated in New York and Edinburgh. She originally wanted to be an actresses and then pursued Interior Design. Her speciality was restoring Victorian interiors into light and bright spaces using French furniture. The picture above is from one of her most famous homes, "The House in Good Taste"

The Braziliance Commode - 1939

Dorothy Draper styled traditional furniture in non-traditional ways. Her style was very fun and appealing, she was known for her dramatic use of black and white on walls, flooring and upholstered pieces. Her friends encouraged her to design other homes after she had styled her own. She used clear vivid colors and designed like the modern baroque movement. The above home was designed for The Quitandinha, a resort near Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Garden in Hell - 1955

Another famous designer that helped start the career was Billy Baldwin. He used a restricted color scheme and used more of a clean-cut, hard-edged look. He mostly designed for the middle class but he did have some famous clients. The above home is Diana Vreeland's Park Avenue home where he paired with Diana to find bold furniture to match the apartment.

Peer Discussions: 

I read through Ali's blog and I really liked how she focused on Dorothy Draper. It really showed me
Dorothy's sense of style throughout her different designs.

I also liked how Paige showed a chair from this time and current applications of the chair.