Power of scale

Powers of Ten

1977

by Eames Couple

Although, Charles and Ray Eames were architects and designers, they made a lot of films. Their works are great in terms of the time, when they created their films, they did everything by themselves and even created their own ways of shooting movies. Moreover, their films cover very interesting topics, no matter the fact that all their movies were scientific, they are absolutely clear to everyone, even to a kid, and this is absolutely amazing.

  

In this article, I want to introduce you their film - "Powers of Ten". You can find and watch it in Video 1.

Video 1. "Powers of Ten", by Eames Couple, 1977

 I really like this film, because of the fact that it gives us the idea of importance of scale in every single thing, and for us, as interior designers, this film is extremely interesting to watch. In this film they show relative size of things in our universe and amazing effect of adding a zero. They start this film from the scene, where person just lays on a picnic and camera goes far away from him, (you can see it on Picture 1) moving every ten seconds to the point, which is ten times father, until it reaches the edge of known universe, and after it comes back to the person and goes directly inside his hand, closer and closer, till the very atoms (you can see it on picture 2). This is amazing, how you can actually be so far and so close. I think this idea of film can be related to interior and architecture, because when you build something you can imagine as if you were on some points above your building or lower something, and it can give you more ideas or can help to solve some problems, because when you higher you can see more outside things and detect some outlook problems, and when you are lower, you can detect more details, which is extremely important. For example, imagine you are on a level of flying bird, which is above the building, and you may notice that actually shape of roof is not suitable at all, because of some climate issues, or, imagine as if you were a mouse, running inside the house on the floor and you notice that the meeting points of wall and floor have some cracks, which is awful. So understanding of scale is really helpful, because you can define problems, rethink and remake. I think that one more important point is that we all need to look around more and imagine ourselves in places of others, because one of the secrets of perfect work is to give a lot of attention to what is around us, to details.

   Picture 1. "Powers of Ten", Camera farther.        Picture 2. "Powers of Ten", Camera closer. 

Actually, Eames dedicated a lot of attention to the details. As you can see on picture 3, Ray is designing a picnic carpet, because everything in the film must be perfect, even such small things as a fruits on a picnic, the way person lays, the way woman near the man seats. Moreover, they first started their movie from shooting real scene with a man on a picnic in a Chicago park, but later they used helicopter and photo collage system, they combined different pictures, videos and even painted, drawing something to create perfect vision (you can see it on picture 4). For example, to show the universe they asked EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., for a satellite photographs, but these photos did not have the scale they needed, so they had to draw on them, to make corrections. It means that they had to have perfect colours match, which implied big work. I really like the fact that they spend so much attention to every single detail.

       Picture 3. "Powers of  Ten", Process.                                                      Picture 4. "Powers of Ten", Process. 

Andy Warhol - Pop Art

Andy Warhol

The Pop Art movement created a revolution in the art and turned it as if it was a consumer product. The Pop art puts the commercial daily object in the center of artistic creation. No more lofty themes, but emphasize the reality of mass, popularity and "cheapness". This reality is made in the techniques of mass production. This reality has the glamour, the sexuality and at the same time food Cravings.

Food-related objects, taken from vulgar reality, that emphasizes the industrial fast-food, there is a clear criticism about the unlimited appetite and the population that eats everything, without distinguish between good and healthy to industrial junk food. The criticism shows realism where modern reality shows.

Warhol's work relates to American culture, marked by a prurient advertising, mass media and unlimited consumerism. Superstars are predicate of his art, he uses in his works commodities as Coca-Cola, Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor and others. They were all legitimate subject for his work as contemporary art, available and ideal.

Warhol: "the great thing about America is that it started a tradition where the richest consumers buy the same as the poorest consumers. You can watch TV and see there Coca-Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and you can drink Coke. Coke is Coke, and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the beggar in the corner is drinking".

Pop art by Warhol depicts a false reality, an illusion where people live in the modern world as if they had the ability and the possibility as the wealthy people who are above them in the social hierarchy.

Warhol looks at everyday life and try to repeat this reality, reducing the gap between everyday life and the luxury lifestyle make his works more accessible to the masses. Warhol creates the effect of mass production through creation. The art is in the small details, there is a difference between the many items in the image. If you look at the images, there is no two bottles or cans that are the same. 

This production line is not perfect.

In the work of Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe, we see the image of Monroe photocopied - it makes it 

one of the consumer products, such as Coca-Cola also the star Monroe is a commodity, people are examining the external characteristics and do not care about the internal.

His work is so relevant and still meaningful today. Observing his work is not a look back on the last era. We can talk about this in the context of an obsession with celebrity and fame and which all those aspects are entirely relevant to us today.

The Paimio Chair

Alvar Aalto - The Paimio Chair

The Paimio chair

 Alvar Aalto and his wife Aino won the architectural competition in 1928 to build a 

tuberculosis sanitarium near the Finnish city of Paimio. They were also commissioned to do the building’s interior design.

The Aaltos designed several different types of furniture and lamps for the Paimio Sanatorium (1929). The best known of the furniture pieces is his cantilevered birch wood Paimio Chair, which was specifically designed for tuberculosis patients.

The Paimio chair was designed also to make it easier for patients to breath. Aalto argued that the angle of the back of the chair was the perfect angle for the patient to breathe most easily.

In my opinion, this approach combines the design values of health, ergonomic and comfort, was very advanced for that time, when there was not awareness to combine medicine and design.

Wassily Chair

The design of the chair have been influenced by Marcel Breuer's metal Wassily Chair. However, instead of using the traditional metal tubes, Aalto wanted something warmer and more human for the furniture. “For much of this nickel and chrome-plated steel furniture seemed to us to be psychologically too hard for an environment of sick persons. We thus began working with wood, using this warmer and suppler material in combination with practical structures to create an appropriate furnishing style for patients".

I believe that besides the warmness of the wood, the Paimio chair's shape is more organic and seems more natural, which I find it more appropriate for the environment of sick people.

I think that Aalto succeeded to combine functionalism, beauty and at the same time taking care for the patients' well-being.

The technique to create the Paimio chair was advanced to that time, it is made of bent laminated veneer and it is the result of numerous bending trials using birch wood that is in part naturally damp.

The degree of bending of the wood tested the technical limits of that time.

Besides the advanced approach for health and technique, the chair is also financially frugal. As birch wood is plentiful throughout Finland and the production method required no expensive technology, it was possible to manufacture the chair at relatively low cost.

Despite its lack of upholstery, the springy seat afforded comfortable sitting, and was suited for modern interiors with its contemporary, natural, and unobtrusive form. The Paimio chair shows a perfect balance between abstraction, tradition, natural materials and organic form. 

Richard Neutra’s Kaufmann House

Richard Neutra's Kaufmann House: 

I would say that from the first approach, the architecture Kaufmann House seams to be a copy of the iconic Falling Water House made by Wright or even a big resemblance to the well known Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van Der Rohe. 

However, if we look further in the history of this architecture and the plans Neutra had for this house, we understand the design of it. 

First of all, I believe that the location has a big impact on the design. The desert near Palm Springs city is a big challenge and as he said he wanted the architecture to be "inserted" and "not grown" in the landscape. Because, it offers a big view over the valley and closing the house would be a mistake in terms of integration of the space in the nature. Moreover, the location gave to the house its special name "desert house".

Second of all, I think that it was not only a matter of location but also a matter of culture. There, in between New Mexico and Arizona the houses have a very special design according to the rough weather. For instance, the flat roof houses or the mud-brick houses. 

Therefore, in my point of view, I think that this house was a combination of different circumstances and elements rather than a copy of two well known architectures. 

Besides, as we can see in the pictures and plans the nature around the house is very important. We can even imagine the architecture being a rock surrounded by its plants. The house is part of the landscape and follows the idea of integrated architecture. 

Therefore, Neutra created thanks to the materials (wood, glass and stone) and the shapes an iconic and atypical architecture that respects the landscape and makes the owners feel part of the nature. 

And to me, this architecture built in 1946 is a revolution in terms of design due to the combination of nature, user and traditions. 

Léa Blanchard

History of Interior Design-Pilar Uribe Donatiu-Ulm School of Design

The Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung, Ulm) was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany.

It was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl aicher and Max Bill, who was the Rector of the school and a student at the Bauhaus. It gained international recognition very fast and nowadays is right after the Bauhaus for being one of the most influential schools of design. From 1953 to 1968, new disciplinaries were added, and departments like Product Design, Visual Communication, Industrialized Building, Information and Filmmaking were available. The building was by Max Bill and has not been changed since it’s opening in 1953.

The Ulm School of Design based its principles in several points. The first one was utility linked to functionality related to ergonomic requirements. The secon one was harmony between design and new industry technology and last but not least the development of company trademark.

It was considered as the heir of the Bauhaus, but contrarily, The Ulm School of Design followed its own criteria and models. It was characterized by the integration of the design process in the production process and the development of a project methodology, providing methodological issues in the creation and creativity process.

Max Bill had a very different way of teaching than Tomas Maldonado. The former, conceived The Ulm School, a college that promoted the principles of the Bauhaus, whereas the latter, Maldonado, believed that they had to abandon the methods used by the Bauhaus to achieve the original principles. The school needed a new method that could help them cope with the demands of technology and industry of that time.

During the first 3 years of Ulm’s opening, the teachers had an artistic formation, which would let the school see art as an instrument and something cognitive. The two following years, the school had new scientific disciplines, it was a relationship between design, science and technology. In 1957 Max Bill left the school as he did not agree with the values they adopted in Ulm. In 1958, ergonomics, economy and physics were classes added to the program and started having a considerable importance. Changes kept on happening during the following years, until 1968, when the school was closed by the Baden-Wurttemberg council as they were not capable of developing projects of actual content.

The history of Ulm School of Design evolved through innovation and change, as well as with their own image of the school as an experimental college. This resulted in numerous changes in the content, organization of classes and ideologies which caused internal conflicts that ended up in the closing of the school in 1968. On the other hand, the Bauhaus, the one who most people compared Ulm to, combined crafts and fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that they shared and taught in the school. The Bauhaus was founded with the idea of creating a "total" work of art in which all arts, including architecture, would eventually be brought together. In my opinión, it is nowadays still open, as they still follow the same ideology as the one that it was founded by. Now, you can go and visit the Dessau Bauhaus, go to expositions and exhibitions and still study there.

       Modernism and Art Deco

Many changes got brought by the industrialization and technology in the first decades of the 20 century. The hand made use got reduced, and everything was factory produced. The growth of the population cause many problems and poverty. In the world war 1, communism and fascism created problems that technology wont solve.

Traditions were obsolete and did not serve architecture and design in this time. It was hard finding a new design after the war, something that would present the 20 century. In French moderne is a new style or in English it will be modernistic, it will be an international style.

One of the main originators of this movement was Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe.

The movement of Art Deco was founded in France and it was slowly diffused in Europe until it arrived to the Africa. New styles were shown in the Exposition international des Arts Decoratifs et industrials moderne in 1925 in Paris. Many new materials where shown to show this new modern world, Glass, Aluminum, Black lacquer…

The architecture and decorative arts shown at the 1925 Exposition embodied a whole range of unconnected styles and sources, including a modern interpretation of the 18th-century style of Louis XVI (reigned 1643–1715), seen as the golden era of the French decorative arts, and references to the avant-garde art movements of the time, such as Cubism and the Bauhaus. Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and exotic and ancient cultures such as ancient Egyptian (following the discovery of the Pyramid tombs) and Mayan civilisations, and the art of Japan and Africa, also had an impact on the style. Unlike Modernist art movements, with their social philosophies and manifestos, Art Deco was purely decorative. A modern style, responding to the machine and to new materials such as plastic, Art Deco in its 1925 context was also sumptuous, a luxury style, characterised by individually produced luxury goods for wealthy connoisseurs.

The 1925 Exposition had a major influence on the decorative arts in America. Although the United States was not represented, many Americans visited the exhibition. In 1926 the Metropolitan Museum of Art held a retrospective exhibition to which original contributors were asked to send material. The American contribution to Art Deco is known as Streamlining and is characterised by clean lines and strong curves. It was applied to the design of cars, architecture and furniture. It was also applied to new mass-produced goods such as refrigerators and radios. In their attempt to reach new consumers from around 1930, manufacturers took iconic elements of the Art Deco styles and simplified them for mass production. Married to modern machine age materials such as bakelite and chrome, this style heralded an era of 'modern' design for mass consumption of affordable consumer goods.

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Modernism 

Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among the factors that shaped modernism were the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by the horror of World War I. Modernism also rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking, and many modernists rejected religious belief.

Modernism, in general, includes the activities and creations of those who felt the traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, philosophy, social organization, activities of daily life, and even the sciences, were becoming ill-fitted to their tasks and outdated in the new economic, social, and political environment of an emerging fully industrialized world. 

A notable characteristic of modernism is self-consciousness and irony concerning literary and social traditions, which often led to experiments with form, along with the use of techniques that drew attention to the processes and materials used in creating a painting, poem, building, etc.Modernism explicitly rejected the ideology of realism and makes use of the works of the past by the employment of reprise, incorporation, rewriting,recapitulation, revision and parody.

-twentieth century industrialization and the technology 

-changes in human affairs as great 

-discovery of fire and the invention of language

-steel and reinforced concrete 

-factory production has become the norm

-population growth and the increase in urban poverty were new and pressing problems 

-rise of communism and fascism 

-problems that technology did little to solve 

-traditions that had served past ages were no longer relevant to this modern world 

-9th century design : Arts and crafts / Art nouveau and vienna secession / Eclecticism

-Modernism is the name given to the new forms that appeared in all of the arts-in painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and literature

-design direction that would be a true expression of the twentieth century

-the term served to distinguish the word modern

-new style

-defined a new directions with such clarity and force "modern movement"

- Walter Gropius (1881-1969) - Ludwing Mies Van der Rohe (1886-1969) - Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

-international style

-modernism was not marked by strong national differences 

Frank lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
-"form follows function"
-ornament that was non-historic
-designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment
-organic architecture 

Prairie house : 
-flat landscape 
-long overhangs and horizontal bands of windows, and low walls extending outward at ground level

Art déco ( 1920-1940) :

-the 1925 World's Fair in Paris carried the title L'exposition International des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes

-symbols of the modern world

-not strongly concerned with issues of functionalism and technology

-in architecture stepped forms with use of luxury materials like marble, granite and aluminium

-workers figures are frequently used

-women wear in a more daring style, using shorter hair, smoking and tacking active part in cocktails showing their liberations 

-the use of straight lines is the main feature of the style in different combinations and mainly creating Zig-Zag

-curves are frequently used 

-geometry rules and appears in designs from architecture to any object or graphic design 

Art déco in United states :

-New york: skyscrapers as a power sign

-Miami: romantic place for rest and pleasure 

-Hollywood: center for cinema and entertainment 

International style :

-It is a style of modern architecture framed into architectural functionalism which advocated a form of projecting "universal" and devoid of regional features 

-started to appear in 1920 was consolidated towards 1932

-it was the result of several factors that occurred in the Western world industrialization, mechanical engineering and materials science were revolutionizing architecture 

-with generic architectural production from the 20s to the 60s 

Form and Materials

By 1920 there was an increasingly wide understanding that building forms must be determined by their functions and materials if they were to achieve intrinsic significance or beauty in contemporary terms, without resorting to traditional ornament. Instead of viewing a building as a heavy mass made of ponderous materials, the leading innovators of modern architecture considered it as a volume of space enclosed by light, thin curtain walls and resting on slender piers. The visual aesthetic of modern architecture was largely inspired by the machine and by abstract painting and sculpture.

In giving form and coherence to modern architecture, Le Corbusier's book Vers une architecture(1923, tr. 1927) played an important role, as did the writings of the Dutch architect J. J. P. Oudand the German architect Walter Gropius, who also headed the Bauhaus in Dessau. Other early leaders of the modern movement included Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marcel Breuer, and Ernst May in Germany and Raymond Hood, Albert Kahn, Richard J. Neutra, William Lescaze, and George Howe in the United States.

In 1932 the label "International style" was applied to modern architecture by the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, anticipating its growing acceptance around the world. The United States became a stronghold of modern architecture after the emigration of Gropius, Mies, and Breuer from Germany during the 1930s. By the mid-20th cent. modern architecture had become an effective instrument for dealing with the increasingly complex building needs of a global society. Large architectural firms such as Harrison and Abramovitz and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill did much to popularize modern architecture around the world after World War II.

At the same time new technological developments continued to influence architects' designs, particularly in the realm of prefabricated construction, as seen in the works of R. Buckminster Fuller and Moshe Safdie. The development of sophisticated air conditioning and heating systems also allowed modern architecture to spread from the temperate climates of Europe and North America to countries with extremely varied weather conditions. 

The Style Evolves

Increasingly, during the 1950s, modern architecture was criticized for its sterility, its "institutional" anonymity, and its disregard for regional building traditions. More varied and individual, as well as regionalist, modes of expression were sought by architects of the next generation, although the basic emphasis on structure and materials continued. This tendency was evident in the works of Louis Kahn, Edward Durell Stone, and Philip Cortelyou Johnson in the United States, and the architects of the so-called New Brutalism movement in England. A dynamic sculptural unity distinguished the buildings of Eero Saarinen and the late works of Le Corbusier. Other leading architects of this generation include Alvar Aalto of Finland, the Italians Pier Luigi Nervi and Paolo Soleri, and in Central and South America, Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer, Juan O'Gorman, and Felix Candela. 

Development of Postmodernism

After 1960, a less evolutionary and more revolutionary critical reaction to modern architecture, first articulated in the writings of Robert Venturi, began to form. Architects have become more concerned with context and tradition. Ornament, once banished by modernism, has returned, often in the form of overtly historical revivalism, although it has just as often been reinterpreted in high-tech materials. This has resulted in a stylistic eclecticism on the contemporary scene. Prominent architects working in the postmodern mode include Philip Johnson in his later projects, Michael Graves, Ricardo Bofill, and Aldo Rossi.