Atompunk Interior Design (aka 70s Shagadelicness, Baby)

Oh, the 70s. Soft rock classics and bell bottoms. And judging by these photos, absolutely no limits on drug use. I mean seriously, i can’t tell if these designs are an argument for or against massive drug use.

The following are shots of interior design from that magical decade that has a definite retro-futuristic feel.  This is SO late Atompunk.

We’ll be getting far more into Atompunk obsessiveness next year when we’re working on The Atompunk Opera, but this is just too… groovy to pass up. So let me lay this on you, baby:

 

Shag carpetinig in the kitchen. Really.

 

Gaze Upon The City Of Tomorrow!

As we count down until the Tuesday album release i present you with what the 1920s thought the future would look like.

Make SURE you watch the second clip. Even if you stop the first one and feel like clicking away to wherever else on the interwebs you go when you’re not with me (and don’t think i can’t smell those cheap scents you bring home on your clothes) just trust me and watch the second one before you go.

Ah, the future.

 

The Seven Sisters of Moscow

After WWII Stalin hesitated on commencing building of the great Palace of the Soviets. Included in his thinking was the idea that having won the war, the Soviet Union was now a superpower and must appear as one. It not only was destined to define the future, as the world of the future would be a communist one, a worker’s paradise, but it must be as inspiring and grand as any western capitalist city.

However, Moscow had no skyscrapers. It’s hard to appear grand and modern without skyscrapers. Indeed his very words were: “ ”We won the war … foreigners will come to Moscow, walk around, and there’s no skyscrapers. If they compare Moscow to capitalist cities, it’s a moral blow to us”.”

So instead of continuing the Palace of the Soviets, Stalin decided to build 8 skyscrapers across Moscow. He would use a new breed of soviet architects to turn Moscow into the city of the future.

Post WWII Russia was in enormous need of housing and infrastructure. However Stalin wanted to make statements to the world and thus resources were diverted in order to complete this massive project.

Stalinist communism is full of nothing if not incredibly grandiose ideas that were utterly botched (or just plain unacheivable) along the way. However, the skycraper project was not one of them. Seven of the eight were actually completed and are indeed impressive and excellent feats of  architecture in their way. The 1950s were a golden period of the Soviet Union. Everyone believed in the future, the communist way of the life seemed to working and thriving and resources and production appeared to not only be pouring out but consistantly increasing with a scientific steadiness that was mathematically certain to overtake American production in some time just over a decade or so.

In this climate the seven sisters rose and towered over Moscow, announcing the slogan “We Can!” across the city, albeit while most of the city’s residents lived hungry and impoverished in a cramped communal apartments.

KGB chief Lavrenty Beria was the supervisor of construction and it’s rumored that there are spying devices installed in many rooms across the buildings. Construction was carried out by a whole bunch of German prisoners of war as well as Gulag prisoners.

The architects catered to Stalin’s tastes. He loved gothic and he LOVED spires. Every building HAD to have a spire. One must also recollect, that back in the 30s Stalin had killed and imprisoned most of the more creative and avante garde of the new communists in an effort to purge his country of anyone potentially unloyal. So if you were one of the new breed of architects who were… alive and creative, throwing in a few spires and massive gothic touches to cater to the boss was definitely a good idea.

“Trademarks of the Stalinist style of architecture embodied in these buildings are the obvious wedding cake structure that pulls the eye toward the central, massive spire, and the patriotic decorations and mouldings. Critics generally agree that the Stalinist period dates from the 1933 Palace of the Soviets competition to 1955 when Khrushchev disbanded the Architects Union. Super-buildings for a super people, the buildings also utilised new building techniques of building with steel frames with concrete walls upon a concrete slab, which allowed for their massive size.”

moscow state university

Hotel Ukraina (now Radisson Royal Hotel)

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Leningradskaya Hote (now the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya Hote)

Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building

Kudrinskaya Square Building

Red Gates Administrative Building

The entire (near medieval) district of  Zaryadye was demolished to make way for the 8th sister, but it never materialized. This is the design for it:

The unbuilt 8th sister: Zaryadye Administrative Building

 

Palace Of The Soviets

In the 1930s Stalin wished to boldly stamp a vision of the future, one where the great Worker’s Paradise would be a beacon to the entire world, leading the way to a new era. It would be grand and mighty, symbolizing the new world communism was sure to create and offer to humanity and reflecting Stalin’s ego too of course.

Palace of the Soviets:

On the proposed site was the largest church in Russia, Khram Khrista Spasitelia (Church of Christ the Savior). Despite his Jesuit schooling, Stalin was committed to a non religious society (although one where the state would often step in to fill the void in people’s need for devotion) and destroyed the spectacular church.

Before

After

(The graffiti reads ”In place of the breeding ground of the narcotic [of religion]–the Palace of Soviets!”)

At last all was clear for the magnificent new structure.

Contruction began in 1937. But then Hitler invaded. (What a dick!) In 1941 the metal used in construction was taken and used elsewhere to fortify bridges since the USSR was getting its ass massacred by the Nazis.

After WWII Stalin had his hands full rebuilding, and the vision and labor that would have gone into the Palace of the Soviets instead went into things like the Seven Sisters, which we’ll get to tomorrow.

In the 1950s the wreckage from the unbuild site was clear and made into a GINORmous swimming pool.

Then… well, history happened. The Soviet Union collapsed and religion once again came back to Eastern Europe. The Orthodox Church appeared again like a flower after a brutal winter and in an insane twist of fate REBUILT the original church that had been torn down.

And thus, standing on the of the Palace of the Soviets today, is once again Khram Khrista Spasitelia, the Church of Christ the Savior.

Little wheel spin and spin, big wheel turns around.

 

Atompunk: Cold War Modern

To recap: in the beginning there was steampunk, a fantastical, futuristic reimaging of the victorian era.

It was only logical that the period afterwards, the 20s to WWII, would have its sci fi devotees, and it has become Dieselpunk.

1945 to about 1975 is Atompunk. Naturally, this period, as well as the others already have a name: the atomic age for instance, and design from the era is called Cold War Modern. I would point out that the term Atompunk does not rename the era any more than steampunk renames the victorian times. Atompunk denotes either a speculative fiction reimaging of the tropes of this period OR deals with this period’s own imagining of the future.

Over the course of doing this blog i have gained a small fetish for Atompunk (i have already envisioned the music i would make if i were to ever make an Atompunk Opera. Not saying i will, just that i hear it. Who knows.)

Thus today we feature design that falls under the Cold War Modern period, when designers for home furnishings were trying to boldly stake out the future in no small way as part of the obsessive dick size contest the west and the soviets were engaged in. Both sides insisted THEY were the future and attempted to lay claim to the look of it.

Yeah, There’s a lot of chairs. The cold war was really fought out the hardest and bloodiest in the chair manufacturing sector. It’s the little known behind the scenes story of the cold war years. (there’s a short story in there somewhere…)

I KNOW! MORE F****** chairs! I’m telling ya, the gddam chair market was insane. You want to know what all those spies were sneaking in and out of east berlin for, it was information on motherf******’ chairs.

Meanwhile there soviets were building THIS:

But the west retorted with this punch to the soviets’ balls:

OH SNAP!

The soviets retorted by making serious fun of these truly idiotic sunglasses:

I’m telling you, it was just nasty.

But in the end, a 6 year old Steve Jobs saw this baby, soiled his little pants and began the long walk towards the Coming Of The Ipod.

 

Retro Future Bubble House

As we here are interested in all things retro future, not just steampunk (because i could, if i wanted, i’m not saying i will, i’m just saying i could write a trilogy of operas: after The Steampunk Opera wuold be The Dieselpunk Opera and The Atompunk Opera. utterly different in structure and music genre, the through line all would share is the city of New Albion. It’s banging around my head although i ignore it utterly and tell it to go away because i need to make The Steampunk Opera into a smash success first and foremost, and there is a long road ahead for simply that. So nevermind. Let’s look at cool architecture.)

Architecture! Right. So, i introduce you now to Antti Lovag, a Hungarian/Russian/Jewish/Finnish architect who in the 1960s invented an Atompunk wet dream: The Bubble House.

This is where i want to live. You may all pitch in a buy it for me. In return you may visit and i will get you drunk.

Bubble houses.

Antti Lovag, born in 1925 grew up following his travelling father, then entered the finnish army and ended up as a war prisonner of the russian at the age of 19.

He then became a student of the Institut of Urbanism in Paris school of Architecture before working in France and travelling around the world. Finally he built his first bubble house in the 60′s, after taking part in several inhabitat associations.

But of course, his best known work is the astonishing Le Maison Bulles:

Jaw dropping Utterly. Interestingly, despite his acclaim, his list of clients is not large. This is because his building philosophyincludes the motto: “I don’t know what it’s going to be like, I don’t know when it’s going to be finished, and I don’t know how much it’s going to cost.”

Case in point: this majestic creation. Le Palias Bulles, just outside of Cannes was begun in 1970. A wealthy French industrialist sank 7 million into it, and still it was not completed. Finally, in 2005 it was bought by Pierre Cardin, the fashion designer, and completed.

 

One of the Atompunkish retro future things EVER. That was Le Maison Bulle by Antti Lovag.

 

Atompunk Architecture In The Workers’ Paradise

As part of our little affair with atompunk era architecture (for those just joining us, atompunk refers to the period of the 1950s to the 1970s. Not simply that era, but that era’s vision of the future is what is Atompunk) it would be remiss of us not explore the vision of the future as conceived by the Eastern Bloc.

 

Prefab Now. Imagining tomorrow today.

Basically, in my research for yesterday’s retro future prefab stuff, i cam across so much batshit awesome prefab architecture ideas happening now, that i simply have to do another prefab post. This is not the past imagining the future, this is us now imagining the future. And some of it is bloody awesome.

One thing though on the prefab atompunk… i really get a kick out of that 50s-70s vision of the future because while now it’s so kitsch, it really DOES look like what the future should have looked like. I mean, now we’re in the very future they were dreaming of, and it doesn’t look a THING like their vision, and indeed their vision looks so tacky it boggles the mind… and yet it just seems like they SHOULD have been right.  Don’t get me wrong, i’m not complaing, and indeed the stuff i’m about to post i think looks KILLER and what i hope the future looks like and what one day my son will comment on as so quaintly deluded.

Since there is SO much stuff out there to choose from, one of my criteria is it has to be a prefab home. Also, the first thing one notices is that the trend today is towards green oriented, eco friendly designs, something i cannot be happier about.

Let’s start with the most basic staple of prefab: the Trailer!

Here is the prefab trailer park of tomorrow:

Next up is a woodland cottage by French designer Matali Crasset:

A wood container prefab from Olgga Architects. 70 square meters (about 753 square feet), this energy efficient abode is made of two prefabricated modules perched one on top of the other. Rather than box out the structure with a stacked configuration, the designers pivoted the top unit to create a variety of interesting and integrated outdoor spaces, as well as a variety of structural possibilities:

Oh hell, i’m just gonna copy and paste:

The modular M_House is a deceptively complex building system based on two simple components. The home boats a rib structure and wall panels that can be connected together to create an ever-changing house profile that is adaptable to many sites with minimal disturbance. Designed by Epiphyte-Lab, the system is also extremely frugal in terms of materials and can be built largely with standard widths of plywood that minimize waste. Panels inserted between the structural ribs are customized for different window requirements and can hold solar panels or even planters. Inside, the unique space benefits from the double-peaked roof, which allows for daylight throughout, and large rooms that seem both spacious and intimate.

The Egg House (blob BV3):

“The goal of this gray tower in Tübingen, Germany is to use as little energy as possible. Employing the principles of Passivhaus design , the JustK house by Deutschland-based AMUNT(architekten martenson und nagel·theissen), makes use of its local climate, super tight insulation, solar passive design and prefab elements. During the design phase, the architects also had to contend with strict building codes, a small plot and small budget, and ensuring the home’s neighbors could maintain their views of Tübingen Castle across the street.

“Utopian eco villages for Haitians. Inspired by the organic form of coral, Vincent Callebaut proposes Coral reef, a plug-in matrix for 1,000 Haitian families. Built upon seismic piers off the coast of the mainland, the prefabricated, modular units can be fit into a wave-like matrix as space is needed. Each family would have a plot of land to grow their own food, and their passive home would minimize energy usage, while renewabal energy sources would make the entire project carbon neutral.”

“This Mudgee Permanent Camping project by Casey Brown Architecture  excels at working with its environment  which is not an easy task given its isolated, rugged cliff-side locale in New South Wales, Australia. The highly adaptable design can open completely to immerse its occupants in expansive views, and it can close to protect the interior from the intense sun, wind and even fires. Rainwater catchment, reclaimed materials and super insulation give this eco cabin high marks in sustainable design.”

Binishells, conceived by renowned architect Dante Bini in the 1960s, Binishells were recently relaunched with the help of Bini’s son Nicoló. The new system, which uses low air pressure to lift and shape a collection of thin reinforced concrete structures, is an array of incredibly efficient abodes that use 80% less materials, have 95% of the embodied CO2, and boast a carbon footprint 80% smaller than traditional constructions

 

Absolutely Prefab: Prefab for an Atompunk world

Although Prefab seems so very Atompunk (post WWII-70s) it actually began Steampunk, in Victorian times. Prefab or previsouly fabricated refers to housing that is built off site than put together later, on the actual housing plot. Our modern concept of it began in 1853, when London carpenter H. Manning advertised the Manning Portable Cottage. It was aimed at the Australian market, so that English emigrants could have an homey, authentic feeling piece of Englishness in their new world.

The true glory day of prefab is however after WWII. The need for quick, portable mass accommodation during WWII ensured that many architects and builders worked on these ideas, and thus after the war ended the industry took off.

Since we are particularly interested in Atompunk sensibilities, that is not just the era of the 50s, 60s and 70s, but its vision and imaginings of the future, we are featuring prefab buildings of yesterday that dream of a brave new prefab tomorrow.

Loftcube

You can stick it anywhere! Live on a roof! In a yard! Loft cube can give you a modernist loft of the future anywhere!

The Douglas Fir Plywood Association modern prefab cabins. Second Homes for Leisure Living in the 1960s.

The Futuro prefab. Sold in the late 60s and 70s:

The Venturo!:

Clusters in the Air by Japanese designer Arato Isozaki:

International Dome House Inc’s Styrofoam Prefab House:

The v2flat:

The M-House:

The Container House (made from shipping containers):

And of course, the great Buckminster Fuller:

.

We’ll be back tomorrow with examples of CURRENT futuristic prefab homes. The dreams of tomorrow, today.

 

Raygun Gothic: Googie

Yes, wtf indeed. No this is a real thing. Raygun Gothic is a general term for retro futuristic science fiction environments. Once upon a time, from the 40s to the 60s, they imagined the future. It was bright and slick and full of raygun wielding heroes, and they proceeded to build it.

And build it they did , until the Vietnam War and the hippies created new paradigms and finally the 70s came and bummed everybody out. But while it lasted it certainly LOOKED like the future. And it was called Googie.

In 1949, architect John Lautner designed a West Hollywood coffee shop called Googies.

It was unique, futuristic with bold angles. The editor of House and Home Magazine, Douglas Haskill, saw the shop as he was driving by and stopped his car. He wrote an article about it and dubbed the look “Googie”.  Other designers inspired by the site  in turn designed coffee shops, drive through and restaurants taking the simple idea even further.

It was an architecture for a new, car oriented society. Bold angles, colorful signs, plate glass, sweeping cantilevered roofs and pop-culture imagery were desgined not to entice teh passing pedestrian, but the driver of the automobile. And in the 50s, cars, the economy, the entire future were booming.

The Soviets put sputnik into space followed by Vostok 12, which carried the first human (Yuri Garagin). Eisenhower shit himself and Kennedy made competing with the Soviets a first class priority. The space race was born.

And in California it had arrived. Much of California was still being built. Unlike the big East Coast cities, already well established and based on the architecture of the past, California was being built now, for the future. Roofs at upwards angles, starbursts, boomerangs, all identify Googie.

Googie style signs usually boast sharp and bold angles, which suggest the aerodynamic features of a rocket ship.

Editor Douglas Haskell described the abstract Googie style, saying that “ The buildings must appear to defy gravity, as Haskell noted: “…whenever possible, the building must hang from the sky.” Haskell’s third tenet for Googie was that it have more than one theme, more than one structural system. Because of its need to be noticed from moving automobiles along the commercial strip, Googie was not a style noted for its subtlety.