Influences of Mission 66 in Design of Beaver Meadows
Dates
1919 - 1933 - Operational years of Bauhaus movement
1920s - 1970s - Relevance of International Style
Context
Some of Mission 66’s key architectural features originated in popular, global design movements. Two particularly pertinent styles were the Bauhaus Movement and the International Style. Both of these styles emphasized the incorporation of industrial materials into design, with minimal ornamentation.
The Bauhaus Movement
The Bauhaus Movement was another influential movement in Mission 66 design, as it influenced many major design movements. The movement originated in Germany with architect Walter Gropius in 1919 (Pevsner, 1999). Gropius’ idea was to create a space where a variety artists and industrial craftsmen could work together (Pevsner, 1999). The purpose of this was to unite traditional artistic elements with new design aspects of the industrial era (Pevsner, 1999). This meant that traditional artists such as a painter could be informed by the work of a welder because both people would be working in the same space. The idea of incorporating industry into design appears in the International Style. Both styles informed Mission 66, because of Mission 66’s tendencies to include manufactured, mass produced materials into its design (Allaback, 2000).
International Style
International Style emerged in the years after World War I and remained a dominant style for buildings and structures until the 1970s (Getty Research Institute, 2004). The style emphasizes volume over mass, uses mass-produced, industrial materials, and rejects ornamentation and color (Allaback, 2000). This movement originated in Europe, with architects desiring to incorporate the elements of fast-paced, industrial materials into more traditional design elements (Getty Research Institute, 2004). Architects who participated in the International Style commonly selected materials like glass, concrete, stone, and wood to incorporate into their designs (Allaback, 2000). The Beaver Meadows Visitor Center echoes some of these design choices in its architectural design. Large glass windows is a notable feature, as well as the plain, exposed rock in the interior and exterior of the building. Plain, exposed wood also lines the interior walls. On the first floor, with the presence of the rock and windows, there is little ornamentation (such as a large amount of pictures hanging from the wall, any sort of wallpaper, or decorative statuary).
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