"BIRTH OF THE COOL" ARCHITECTURE LECTURE SERIES

Five-Week Series

Dates: Five Thursdays, Feb. 19–March 26 (no class March 19)
Time: 6:30–8:00 p.m. REVISED: 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Location: See Course Locations and Parking page
Series Fee: $130 (discounted to $104 for select groups)
Single Lecture: $30

Pierre Koenig. The Eames chair. California cool. This five-lecture series explores some of the most important developments in American architecture and interior design of the 1950s and early '60s, a period famous for its aesthetic of cool, sleek modernism. Designed to complement the nationally acclaimed "Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury" exhibition hosted at the Blanton Museum of Art February 22–May 17, 2009, the series examines the dynamic architects and designers whose innovative work shaped American postwar culture and whose influence is still felt in our continued fascination with modernist cool.

Lectures are led by outstanding School of Architecture faculty with wide-ranging expertise in the roots and influences of modernism. Topics include Frank Lloyd Wright, the Case Study House program, Joseph Eichler’s postwar projects of mass-scale modernism, the deconstruction of "cool" in furniture and interior design, and postwar experiments with prefabrication. Don’t miss this informed and inspiring tour of some of the most iconic buildings and furniture of the twentieth century.

February 19

MODERN LIFE

Kevin Alter, M.Arch., Architecture, UT Austin

Caught up in the euphoria of post-war America and the expansion of the middle class, Eichler Homes built 12,000 houses over the course of twenty years that demonstrated an unequivocal enthusiasm for the possibilities of modern architecture. An examination of this unique phenomenon provides a glimpse into the extraordinary possibilities of modern life and serves to refresh our own contemporary ambitions for what one might expect out of the built environment.

February 26

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT AND POSTWAR AMERICA

Richard Cleary, Ph.D., Architecture, UT Austin

In the years following World War II, Frank Lloyd Wright, then in his eighties, produced a remarkable body of work ranging from his Usonian Houses for the middle class to public buildings, such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Beth Sholom synagogue, to skyscrapers and city plans. All were of a piece in his mind as expressions of organic design in harmony with the promise of American democracy.

March 5

THE CASE STUDY HOUSES: MODERNISM AND THE POSTWAR AMERICAN HOME

Monica Penick, Ph.D., Architecture UT Austin

This lecture examines Arts & Architecture’s Case Study House Program (1945-62) as a product of the social, cultural, economic, and architectural climate in which it emerged, and as a public forum for critical debate about the nature of modern architecture and modern living.

March 12

PRETTY COOL DIGS

Carl Matthews, M.S., Architecture, UT Austin

This lecture and visual presentation explores how modern furniture, accessories, and interiors have been used in mass media (print, television, movies) to create and reflect a "cool" identity. Works of Eames, Saarinen, Noguchi, and many others will be included in the presentation.

March 26

PREFABRICATION AND EMERGENCY

Elizabeth Alford, M.Arch., Architecture, UT Austin

This lecture will discuss changes in production of houses in response to wartime industrialization by comparing two houses: Konrad Wachsmann and Walter Gropius’ “Packaged House” and Alison and Peter Smithson’s “House of the Future” exhibition house. Both houses exploit construction techniques developed during World War II, but are diametrically opposed in terms of attitude and tone, showing the arc of the cultural transition taking place during these years.

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