Trade organizations and builders of all stripes joined in the call for a tamping down of public expectations — especially those that might get cut out of the new modern style of construction. You see, plastic and glass and steel were the future. And since wood wasn't exactly presented as the building material of tomorrow, organizations like the Arkansas Soft Pine Bureau were happy to contribute by advising the industry to tone it down... — paleofuture.gizmodo.com
2 Comments
It is an interesting article, but I am reminded of a TED talk where I heard someone speaking about the eames house, and how it was in competition with the more normal designs we see today to be a kind of "standard model" for the housing of tomorrow. The speaker mentioned how it was a shame that it wasn't picked as the new standard (he may have mentioned trade organization influence, I don't remember), and I remember being swayed by his reasoning right up until the point that I visited the house in person. The details and construction were terrible! Its a beautiful house, and perfect for its socal climate, but if you remove it from its site its a totally untenable proposition as a standard model.
Wood framing is actually kind of awesome. Its cheap, fast, and can even be sustainable depending on the way the wood is harvested. There is a reason its the standard, and there is a reason that architects like Gehry were obsessed with it in their early careers as well. Would we have a similar more "modern" alternative as developed as wood framing today if we had started in the 1950s? Maybe, its hard to say. As for the obsession with trim, fake columns, steep gabled roofs, and fake window shutters, I think that those always had a foothold outside of the "progressive" states.
Why besmirch the economics underlying such trite and cliched details? That layer of fussy schmaltz ends up paying for fussy fees, so its not all bad. States - schmates - having work mainly within the custom house market, I can tell you theres no amount of money to account for taste, progressive or 'regressive' states regardless.
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