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Mid Century Modern - Today's episode is a rumination on what makes mid century modern homes & motels so timelessly appealing to photographers. Included: characteristics of MCM, why so many new homes & buildings are so ugly, the brilliance of JULIUS SHULMAN, as well as the must-have Taschen book "Case Study Houses." Also: Wildwood's Doo Wop Motels, Margate City's dwindling mid-century buildings, morning light photo walks. LInks:https://www.amazon.com/Case-Study-Houses-Elizabeth-Smith/dp/3836510219 https://juliusshulman.org https://www.juliusshulmanfilm.comhttps://www.instagram.com/midmodnj/?hl=enhttps://youtu.be/YaObFp_UK9w
James Sanders edited Renewing the Dream: The Mobility Revolution and the Future of Los Angeles, out now from Rizzoli. With contributions from Nik Karalis, Frances Anderton, Mark Valliantos and Unfrozen's own Greg Lindsay, the book explores the forces behind the change in the mobility landscape of the most famously car-centric city on Earth. Through design provocations and disciplined research, Sanders and the authors see the city on the edge of a mobility revolution, already manifesting in the largest rail-transit-building campaign in America since World War II, that could soon see its dozens of square miles of surface parking and 1,500 gas stations converted to “higher and better” uses, including housing and public space around far less-consumptive electric-vehicle charging stations. -- Intro: “Low Rider,” by War -- Discussed: - James Sanders: Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies: 2001, Knopf New York: A Documentary Film with Ric Burns, 1999 - Donald Shoup - Woods Bagot & Renewing the Dream - John Rossant & CoMOTION - Christopher Hawthorne - Party time on the Expo Line - The California courtyard apartment complex & bungalow court - Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles, by Stefanos Polyzoides, Roger Sherwood and James Tice. Photos by Julius Shulman - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - Chinatown - La La Land - California transit-oriented development legislation and funding - LA's transit-oriented communities program - Tesla LED drive-in Upcoming readings/bookstore appearances: - Book Soup, West Hollywood, CA: 1/5 - The Skyscraper Museum, New York: 1/23 -- Outro: “L.A. Woman” by the Doors
Step into the multiverse of Zack Bolotin, owner-operator of Porchlight Coffee & Records on Seattle's Capitol Hill. Not just a cafe, Porchlight is a platform for Zack's varied talents, including graphic design, photography, art curation, book publishing and online retailing. It's also a record label. Listen as Zack describes how his endeavors, admittedly wide-ranging, are anchored in his family's history and an affection for old things. He shares how he incorporated his parents' memorabilia collection into Porchlight's publication "62 Souvenirs: Keepsakes from the 1962 Seattle World's Fair." Zack also recounts his discovery of mid-century architectural photography by Art Hupy published in “Pacific Architect & Builder,” a defunct trade journal produced by Zack's grandfather Roscoe Laing. Reminiscent to Zack of Julius Shulman's contemporaneous work in Southern California, he restored and published a selection of Hupy's photos as "Art Hupy: Architecture and Life in the Pacific Northwest" in collaboration with Docomomo US/WEWA. Accompanying Zack's inspiring stories are songs from an assortment of Porchlight Records' labelmates, among them his collaborative project, Pretty Old, whose tracks blend ruminations on remote motels, fictions by Raymond Carver and memories of roadside attractions. A self-taught entrepreneur, Zack chose to keep his business small, sustainable and anchored in community. His maverick spirit—casual, classically Pacific Northwest—affirms that a livelihood can be both purposeful and expansive. These lighthearted stories uphold Zack's city as a place of goodness. "As much as a city is made by people; it's made by the buildings and businesses that come and go as well; you can't advocate for every single building to stay where it is. You have to pick and choose. There's a balance between preservation and new buildings. That's how it always has been.” ~ Zack Bolotin
One of the many great things about Los Angeles is its unrivaled legacy of modern residential architecture. Students in Peyton Hall's Materials Conservation class did their case study on the John J. Buck House (1934-35) by R. M. Schindler, one of the legendary architects who defined Southern California modernism. Co-host Cindy Olnick tagged along on a site visit and talked with Peyton, students Sam Malnati and Julie Dinkin, and owner Jocelyn Gibbs. The house is in great shape but has changed over time—even Jocelyn, an architectural historian, says it's full of mysteries. Buck did an original concept, and Schindler (who often made changes during construction) redesigned it. Buck added Art Deco touches inside, so Schindler didn't want the interiors published in his lifetime. Subsequent owners also altered the house and the grounds.To unravel some of the mysteries, Peyton's students documented the Buck House down to the Bakelite doorknobs, analyzed it inside and out to identify original elements and alterations, and suggested approaches to restoring the property (if anyone ever wanted to). See the episode page for links, transcript, and a mega-slideshow of photos by Danielle Armstrong, Julius Shulman, Dr. Fritz Block, and Ray WachsmannConnect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn
"Buck wanted to stand in every room from his house, turn his head, and see every view. Even the bathroom. And so that was kind of what inspired the design of the house." Among the most famous photographs of modern architecture is Julius Shulman's picture of Case Study House #22, also known as the Stahl House after the family that commissioned it. Two girls in white dresses sit inside a glass cube that seems to float atop a cliff over the illuminated grid of Los Angeles at night. Built by a family with a “beer budget and champagne tastes,” the two-bedroom home designed by architect Pierre Koenig changed residential design in LA. While Shulman's image and others of the building have appeared in countless publications, advertisements, films, and TV shows, the story of how the house came to be and what it was like to live there is less well known. In this episode, Bruce Stahl and Shari Stahl Gronwald and writer Kim Cross discuss the story of how Case Study House #22 came to be and share personal stories about what it was like to grow up and live in the home, from roller skating across the concrete floors to diving off the roof into the pool. Stahl, Gronwald, and Cross are co-authors of the recent book The Stahl House: Case Study House #22; The Making of a Modernist Icon. To buy the book The Stahl House: Case Study House #22; The Making of a Modernist Icon, visit https://shop.getty.edu/products/the-stahl-house-case-study-house-22-the-making-of-a-modernist-icon
The Stahl House in Los Angeles is among the most famous houses in the world. Designed by Pierre Koenig and engineered by William Porush, the Stahl House and its pool were immortalized by legendary design photographer Julius Shulman. In a conversation recorded poolside at the swanky Hotel Skylark in Palm Springs, where they were part of a panel discussion at the Palm Springs Museum of Art, our George Smart talks with Shari Stahl Gronwald and Bruce Stahl. They grew up in the Stahl House and spent a lot of time in that pool. Joining them is author Kim Cross of the new book The Stahl House: Case Study House #22—The Making of a Modernist Icon. Later on, an update on the New York Architecture and Design Festival with Executive Director and friend of the show Kyle Bergman, plus music with architect and artist Albert McDonald and Fallow Ground.
We’ve asked members of the Getty community to share short, personal reflections on works of art they’re thinking about right now. These recordings feature stories related to our daily lives. This week, Museum editor Lyra Kilston muses on Richard Neutra’s innovative and newly relevant school designs, as seen through photographs by Julius Shulman. To learn … Continue reading "Reflections: Lyra Kilston on Richard Neutra and Julius Shulman"
Well-known Modernist architects came to fame in a time before computers, a time where getting published in magazines was the mid-century equivalent of going viral. Even if an architect lived in a large metro such as Los Angeles, world of mouth and house tours wouldn’t get you the big commissions. Blowing up meant having photos of your work in major publications of the era. To get those photos, you had to have a great photographer who really understood design and light and capturing the beauty of a project. Joining us are Eric Bricker, producer of Visual Acoustics, a documentary about the life and career of celebrated architecture photographer Julius Shulman, and Keith Isaacs, one of the South’s rising stars in architectural photography. Later on, jazz with the fabulous Stacey Kent.
Mid-twentieth century Los Angeles architect Pierre Koenig (1925–2004), was a skillful constructor of modernist homes. The most famous of these were two case study houses produced wholly of glass, wood, and steel and evocatively photographed by Julius Shulman. Yet despite these early successes, Koenig was largely forgotten by the 1980s. Architectural historian Neil Jackson’s recent … Continue reading "Pierre Koenig’s Modernist LA Homes"
Palm Springs has a huge architecture event called Modernism Week every February. It’s a fascinating array of architecture, lectures, parties, tours, exhibits, and the occasional plastic surgery gone awry. Host George Smart was there earlier this year talking with nearly all the speakers, authors, and special guests who make the week (actually 11 days) a blast! The photographers documenting the mid-century movement provide us a wealth of information, perspective, and enjoyment, capturing not only amazing houses but the lives and careers of their owners and architects. From poolside at the swanky Hotel Skylark, you’ll meet authors Emily Bills and Pierluigi Serraino talking about one largely undiscovered Modernist photographer, Marvin Rand. Their new book along with Sam Lubell, California Captured, puts Rand front and center in the same world class as Julius Shulman and Ezra Stoller. Later we join photographer Andrew Pielage about his quest to shoot every Frank Lloyd Wright building in the world.
Wally Byam, the creator of Airstream travel trailer, said: “Adventure is where you find it, any place, every place, except at home in the rocking chair.” In addition to recognizing the beauty in and potential of Hawley Bowlus’s original travel trailer designs, Wally Byam’s genius was understanding that in addition to a strong tendency toward wanderlust is the adventurous desire to travel and see the world before we leave it. COMING SOON: a new feature-length documentary, ALUMINATION, about the fascinating world of Airstream travel trailers and the Airstreamers who love them. From director Eric Bricker (Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman), ALUMINATION will not only take the viewer on a feature-length film odyssey, there is a good chance of finding the best way to travel the road. Learn more, and provide support, at Kickstarter. Charles Lindbergh, Spirit of St. Louis, flying, flight, glider, aluminum, spaceship, Wright Brothers, National Geographic, Apollo, astronauts, astronaut, outer space, Johnny Depp, Lenny Kravitz, Tim Burton, Tom Hanks, Adrien Brody, Diablo Cody, Steve Carrell, Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day, John Mellencamp, Eddie Vedder, Francis Ford Coppola, Matthew McConaughey, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Pamela Anderson, Sandra Bullock, Neil Armstrong, Michel Collins, Buzz Aldrin.
As the greatest photographer of Modernist architecture, Julius Shulman’s images stand as icons of the architectural boom in mid-20th Century America. This podcast is a quick and enthusiastic review of a wonderful movie entitled Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, which is available as a DVD or as streaming video at the locations linked … Continue reading Camera Position 120 : Visual Acoustics →
Julius Shulman's photos did more than publicize the work of Modernist architects. He showed the world that the best architecture of mid-century America reflected the unique and imagined lifestyle of this place. In Shulman's perceptively sharp photos of architecture, interesting men and beautiful women are caught in the middle of a stimulating conversation over cocktails, or lounging in the garden, or emerging from an evening swim in the pool. Ted Wells notes that Shulman's photographs created the two things architecture needs for immortality: respectability and desirability. The Julius Shulman archive of 260,000 photographs has been acquired by the Getty Research Institute. The exhibit "Julius Shulman: Modernity and the Metropolis," is on display until January 22, 2006 at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. For more information visit www.getty.edu. Photo from the Getty Research Institute: Chuey Residence, Los Angeles, 1956. Richard Neutra, architect. www.tedwells.com
Julius Shulman is a world-renowned architectural photographer whose career spans the history of Modernism in America. The Shulman House and Studio, built in 1947 and designed by architect Raphael Soriano, has been the photographer's home for nearly sixty years. Ted Wells presents the fourth podcast in a series about four architects and four clients who were committed to the ideals of modern living. These clients are true patrons: generous with their praise, evangelical in their fervor to spread the spirit of Modernism, and satisfied that the rest of the world has finally caught up with their foresight. The photos of the clients in this four-part series are by John Ellis. www.tedwells.com