DESIGN GOES COSMIC.
Starting in the late 1950s and carrying on for decades, space exploration was a big influence on design. This followed on from, and overlapped, the Atomic Age, which had a similar kind of golden-future impact. Above, Seattle’s Space Needle, built in 1962 for the 21st Century Exposition, which is also known as the Seattle World’s Fair. ( A post about the Atomic Age: https://wp.me/s7LiLW-atomic )
The 1964/65 New York World’s Fair sits firmly during the heyday of the style. This is an opportunity to once again show the fantastic Unisphere. It’s still there. Go and see it if you can. (Mega-globes post: https://wp.me/p7LiLW-3D)
“The Jetsons” captured the Space Age popular aesthetic. The original series ran from September 1962 to March 1963.
The KenAnn Building in Fort Lauderdale was built in 1964. Online sources say that it was inspired by “The Jetsons.”
NASA logo (1959).
The iconic Las Vegas sign (1959).
Capitol Records Building, Los Angeles (1956). The light on the top of the spire blinks “Hollywood” in morse code.
1962 AMI Continental 2 jukebox.
Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio (1963). https://bit.ly/2M5MubE
Disney’s Tomorrowland opened in 1955. At the entrance was the World Clock.
And Disney’s 2015 film of the same name was, naturally, an ode to the Space Age.
The architectural style know as “Googie” captures the futuristic atomic/space theme, and for a few decades was widely used in the United States for coffee shops, motels and gas stations. This aesthetic later became a component of the Mid-century modern style that is so popular today. The term came from a Los Angeles coffee shop called “Googies.”
The Union 76 gas station in Beverly Hills (1965) is considered to be one of the best examples of Googie architecture.
The Cinerama Dome in Hollywood opened in 1963, using a geodesic dome design developed by Buckminster Fuller.
Mid-century modern: Lounge Chair by Charles and Ray Eames. https://bit.ly/2LujbQ3
Robert McCall’s visions of the future took the Space Age style through to the 21st century.
