2024-05-05T16:39:45-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150063242/new-documentary-short-film-shows-off-the-groundbreaking-design-work-of-barbara-stauffacher-solomon Mackenzie Goldberg 2018-05-07T14:32:00-04:00 >2024-03-15T01:45:58-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/3y/3yj61jy1fpx6rkdh.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>"To design is to see as in foresee; to draw visions not previously seen," says the&nbsp;groundbreaking designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon in a new short documentary film about her work and life. A dancer-turned-graphic designer, Solomon was born in <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/224/san-francisco" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">San Francisco</a> but trained in Switzerland at the Basel Art Institute. Combining hard-edge Swiss graphics with California Abstract Expressionism,&nbsp;she defined California cool in the '60s.&nbsp;</p> <figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/1p/1pnn13dbsxriyld2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=1028" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/1p/1pnn13dbsxriyld2.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Sea Ranch Tennis Club supergraphics by Barbara Stauffacher Solomon. Photo &copy; Jim Alinder/Princeton Architectural Press</figcaption></figure><p>An enduring visionary, the style Solomon pioneered came to be known as <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/493929/supergraphics" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">supergraphics</a>: large graphics applied with vibrant colors, usually in geometric shapes, to walls or floors and ceilings to make the illusion of altered space. She is&nbsp;best known for her interior of <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/1026661/lawrence-halprin" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lawrence Halprin</a>'s 1960s Sea Ranch&nbsp;and her 1991 Ribbon of Light installation at the Embarcadero Promenade in San Francisco.</p><figure><p><a href="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/i2/i2tpnpydz9n8d22l.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=1028" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/i2/i2tpnpydz9n8d22l.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&amp;w=514"></a></p><figcaption>Kaiser Channel 44, KBHT T.V. Studio by Barbara Stauffache...</figcaption></figure>