streamlining

Streamlining was a late type of art deco which was mostly popular in the 1930's during the financial depression where there was a great need for product differentiation.  The aesthetic elements of the product became more important and advertising became more popular as people began to see products on posters before seeing them in real life.  People began to use style to enhance the existing products. (Taken from Wikipedia)

Henry Dreyfuss Streamlined iron

Raymond Loewy "Teardrop" Pencil Sharpener

Streamlining reflected the growth  of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics, travel, technology and the magic of speed.  The architecture of buildings looked very similar to new technologies like Cars, Ships and Airplanes.  Although Streamlining was a branch off the Art Deco movement, it was very different.
When the Great Depression hit, designs had to be rearranged in order to cut costs.  In Streamlining lavish decoration was cut, designs now showed a love for the machine and products were more simple and functional.

Characteristics of Streamlined products:
1) Clean, curved shapes with rounded corners.
2) Long horizontal lines.
3) No decoration.
4) Flat roofs.
5) stripes to give a feel of motion and speed.

1939 Coca-Cola Bottling Plant in Los Angeles
By Robert V. Derrah

This is one of the Coca-cola bottling plants in Los Angeles which was build in 1939 by Robert V. Derrah.  It is a great example of a streamlined building.  It was built to look like an ocean liner from the inside and the out.  It is complete with a flying bridge, Promenade deck and portholes. The shell was built around four older buildings. 

Today many of our  household objects are streamlined and se are cars.  Today most cars are extremely streamlined to emphasise speed and luxury.

The Bauhaus

When we think about The Bauhaus we think of white walls, clean and sleek lines and the use of glass and concrete.  The Bauhaus is still very influential today.

The Bauhaus was founded in Weimar, Germany in 1919 by Walter Gropius with the aim of unifying art, design and the industry.
It was a school where students got training in all the fine arts and they learned to combine their knowledge with technology in order to design products which were pleasing to the eye but also practical.

The Bauhaus 

Gropius was heavily influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement.
Being an architect, Gropius believed that a building should mark the centre of learning.

The school was designed by Gropius himself.  All workshops, studios, classrooms, offices and living spaces were included in this one building.  The building communicated a sense of openness, cleanliness and simplicity.  This style of architecture became later known as the 'International Style' which is still influencing architects today. (Taken from Wikipedia)





The period between 1924 and 1928 was the most important period for the Bauhaus because the Dutch movement 'De Stijl' was very influential.  This movement embraced the use of flat primary colours, simple shapes and horizontal and vertical lines.

In 1922, Van Doesburg who founded the De Stijl movement, taught a course at the Bauhaus and the prinicples of this movement integrated with the Bauhaus style.

Machines began to be more widely recognised and the Bauhaus began to embrace the machine and the ability to create household designs that could be easily mass produced.

Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer

The Bauhaus only lasted 14 years because of the political pressure caused by the Nazi movement.  The legacy of the Bauhaus is very much what we consider today as contemporary or modern design.  All our streamlined household products, chairs, tables and lamps can all trace back to the Bauhaus.

Pedestal Docksta Table from Ikea

This is the Pedestal Docksta table from Ikea.
Its is obvious that it its greatly influenced by Marcel Breuer's nesting tables.  The design from Ikea is slightly modified.  Instead of metal, wood is used and the colours are slightly different, however, the main concept is the same.  Bold and flat primary colours are used, the structure uses simple shapes and there is definitely an element of practicality.

We can also see influences of the Bauhaus in todays fashion designs.   This is a video of Carolina Herrera's Spring/Summer 2012 collection at the Mercedes-Benz fashion New York fashion week.  The collection was influenced by the Bauhaus by using various graphic shapes, different materials and colours and sleek silhouettes.