Beyond the disco balls, shag carpet, and avocado-colored kitchen appliances, the 1970s were a decade filled with both experimentation and anxiety within the field of architecture. The sociopolitical turmoil of the 1960s, which saw numerous political assassinations and the being of the Civil Rights Movement, continued into the 1970s with protests against the Vietnam War and rising concerns about the environment. Meanwhile the economy struggled through a recession and inflation amidst the oil crises. Architecture critic Charles Jencks had declared in 1977 that Modernism had died in 1972 with the demolition of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex (Minoru Yamasaki, 1955) in St. Louis, Missouri—but had Modernism died? The architecture of the 1970s includes many diverging forms of Modernism, as well as the emergence of an architecture and polemic against Modernism. In Northern California, examples of Brutalism, New Formalism, and Corporate and Late Modernism continue to proliferate in downtown areas and in suburban office parks, but the softer, more organic and vernacular influences of Sea Ranch and the Third Bay Tradition are strongly felt in residential projects. And on the other hand, we start to see the beginnings of Postmodernism and historicist influences particularly in the later 70s.
Join us for a virtual "walking tour" where we'll take you to Santa Cruz, Larkspur, Sea Ranch, and San Francisco inside of 60 minutes!
Details
Date & Time: Saturday October 10, 2020, 2 pm - 3 pm Eastern (11 am - Noon Pacific)
Free for Docomomo US members; $5 for non-members (Not a member? Join HERE!)
Regisration required
