But the public voted with its feet and were drawn in by it. The elites preferred the European minimalism of the era. Googie was considered kitschy by many established architects and critics of the day due to its commercialism. Surprisingly, Googie was also extensively used by banks who were trying to change their image from intimidating stodgy institutions, to one more welcoming to the public. The original McDonalds was pure Googie style. It was perfect for the youth car culture of the time. Futuristic and garish signs and architecture were used by restaurants, motels, car washes and bowling alleys to pull travelers off of the road.
It was partially a result of a new age of American travel. Elements of it could be floating, soaring or gravity defying. It was bright, angular and particularly attention grabbing. Starting in Southern California, it spread to Las Vegas, then to the rest of the country. But usage of Googie style architecture was extensive. The term is not used much today, as it is an unappealing term, originally meant to be derogatory. Googie is an architectural style named after a coffee shop in Los Angeles. Space Age design included sleek rocket like designs, starbursts, Sputnik-like lamps, and cartoons like the Jetsons. President Kennedy gave a widely followed speech in 1961 promising to put a man on the moon that decade. In 1958, President Eisenhower created NASA to focus on space exploration. Space travel in America went from fantasy to serious with Disney’s Man in Space television program in 1955. American rocket research in the early 1950s centered on rockets used as weapons. The Russians followed this up with Vostok 1 in 1961, which became the first manned space flight. In 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik 1, which became the first man made satellite to orbit the earth. It was a German V-2 rocket, that became the first to reach space in 1944. During World War II, German scientists developed unmanned rockets as weapons that could fly hundreds of miles. The viability of space flight started with a paper published in 1919 by American, Robert Goddard. Perhaps nothing influenced design from this period more than space exploration. However, elements of Space Age design are still used today. It was used occasionally in products such as clothes, furniture, housing, appliances, and household products. Advertisers of discretionary products like soda in particular liked it. In an ad or sign it is often so exuberant, that it appears to jump off the page. American automakers heavily utilized Space Age design, particularly from 1958 to 1962. Advertisers used it in magazine ads, signs and billboards. Space Age design was heavily used in the architecture and signage of restaurants, motels, car washes and bowling alleys. It was very commercial and often used by businesses to draw attention to themselves. Products using Space Age design were often made of newer lighter materials such as plastics and chrome for consumer products and stainless steel, fiberglass and more glass for buildings. Space Age was considered ultra-modern at the time. It can also be humorous, weird or whimsical. Midcentury Futuristic Design (or Space Age) is bright, angular, and attention grabbing. Googie is Space Age design for buildings. The first three refer to innovations during the time period that just a few years earlier were science fiction. Serials such as Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers could be seen at the movies.Īmerican Midcentury futuristic design is known today by several different names, primarily Space Age, but also Jet Age, Atomic, and Googie.
Advertisers started using images of the future in their ads. That is when hobby magazines such as Popular Mechanics started showing futuristic vehicle and gadgets on their covers. The future really took off in the 1930s, when the depression made people want to forget the present and look to a better day. World’s Fairs drew millions of visitors by showing the latest advances and images of what the future might look like.
1960S SPACE AGE MOVIE
In 1927 came the futuristic movie classic, Metropolis. These were followed in the early 1900s by futuristic movies such as Un Voyage Dane La Lune in 1902, one of the first movies ever made, about voyage to the moon. It started with novels by foreign authors such as Jules Verne who in the mid-1800s wrote novels such as Journey to the Center of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Many of these images involved science fiction, including space travel, at the time considered the most advanced futuristic technology.
Images of the future driven by scientific and technological advances have been a part of our popular culture since the late 1800’s.
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