Mid Century Modern

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Mid-century modern is an architectural and interior design aesthetic that was popular from about 1945 to 1970 during the post war period in the United States of America. The term mid-century modern was used as early as 1950 but was ultimately defined as a design movement by Cara Greenburg in her 1984 book titled “Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s” [1]. The end of World War 2 brought about a sense of optimism for the future and an eagerness for new beginnings. The post war period also brough with it an economic boom allowing more Americans than ever to own homes which contributed heavily to the influence of the movement at the time.

The mid-century modern aesthetic takes its inspiration from the Bauhaus and International movements. Bauhaus was a German art school that during the prewar period was attempting to combine crafts with art to create a new approach to design. The school’s design approach focused on combining artistic vision and the principles of mass production with an emphasis on function [2]. The International movement was a style of modern architecture that emerged in Europe (principally Germany and France) in the 1920s and 1930s. The term International Style describes the plain, unadorned architecture of rectilinear forms built of steel, reinforced concrete, and glass [3]. The Bauhaus movement influenced the interiors of the buildings like the furniture while the international style influenced the buildings architecture. Two European styles were combined and expanded upon to create the mid-century modern design aesthetic.

The purpose of mid-century modern was stripping away the ornament and a focus on design intent. From an architectural perspective mid-century modern focused on very wide and open concepts allowing one room to flow into the next. Inside the home, there would be partial brick or glass walls to still give the house some degree of separation of spaces. The houses were meant to have a low footprint with floor to ceiling windows. The roofs tend to have flat rooflines with exposed ceilings and beams on the inside. Short staircases connect rooms containing ergonomically designed furniture [1]. Below is a mid-century modern interior taken from the portfolio of Singaporean interior design firm Ovon and the building is an example of mid-century modern architecture in the form of the TWA Flight Center designed by Eero Saarinen.

Figure 1. Mid-century modern interior designed by Ovon Design.

Figure 2. Trans World Flight Center is a flight terminal and hotel is located at JFK international airport in New York City.

The development of these characteristics were driven by innovations of common building materials. Inventions such as insulated glass allowed designers to utilize bigger windows without having to worry about heating/cooling costs of the buildings [4]. Innovations in other materials like plastics, concrete, and steel became mainstays of mid-century modern buildings [5].

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most prolific and greatest American architects and his style became ubiquitous with mid-century modern design. Frank Lloyd Wright has designed 1,114 architectural works of all types, 532 of which were realized, and he created some of the most innovative spaces in the United States [6]. Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous building is Fallingwater, a home located in Mill Run, PA which can be seen in the image below.

Figure 3. Fallingwater, now a museum, is a mid-century modern home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright

Other notable mid-century modern designers include Charles and Ray Eames, creators of the Eames lounger (shown below), and Eero Saarinen, known for the TWA Flight Center, the tulip chair (also pictured below), and the St. Louis gateway arch.