Living in Atomville

Was there ever a more optimistic time in the US of A than the 1950s? Seems like a lot of thought went into the swell future with push-button homes and jet-engined cars (some fly, some don’t) in the garage.  Architect Paul Laszlo had his own vision of living in 2004 as seen from 1954:

Link:

TIME: Rich Man’s Architect

A Trip to Idlewild (1961)

Once upon a time in mid-century USA, airports were neat places to see and experience. Not at all like today where you are subjected to a dreaded, purgatorian visit to the sterile lockdown. That gets you prepared for boarding the winged Greyhound bus…Oh well, I’m just getting wound up now, so let’s take a look at a trip around Idlewild (now Kennedy) Airport in New York back in 1961. These pics were taken by Dimitri Kessel for an article in LIFE magazine about Idlewild. Enjoy!

And here is the iconic TWA Terminal (now JetBlue Terminal 5) designed by Eero Saarinen under construction:

Build LLC Breaks Down the Basics of Mid-Century Modern Architecture

In a brilliant entry, Build LLC’s Build Blog has posted the ”10 Forgotten Lessons” that were fundamental to modern architecture in the Mid-Century.

The lessons were taken from a tour of a well-preserved home designed by Paul Kirk (see another Paul Kirk house here). Here are a few of the 10 Lessons:

• Keep it simple.
• Connecting the inside to the outside creates harmony with the site.
  
• Let nature do the work.

We think the pics below are good examples of these lessons.