The Bungalow Craze The bungalow style was a major influence in the drastic change of American society and how people lived. It influenced a major shift in gender role of women in society, creating easier housekeeping techniques and greater employment and career opportunities for women by confronting economic and social issues in society using domestic architecture. The simpler home design expressed many tensions of Progressivism in attempting to solve social issues of the time. The transformation brought about new ideas as well as fears that had to be confronted. The spread of factories from the industrial age left anxiety concerning the loss of independence and masculinity. The middle class population was becoming salaried workers, loosing economic and moral independence. The Progressive Era had created a deep desire to reshape institutions and values as well as faith to reform the people. At the same time, the Arts and Crafts Movement grew in response to the spread of factories. It drew inspiration from John Rustic, an Oxford artist, who believed that machines were robbing people of the creativity and pleasure of work situations. The bungalow design was influenced by a variety of social and economic trends that expanded the middle class and became a powerful means of transformation in American society. Arts and Crafts promoters associated the bungalow design with creative manual work, independence, and a way to return to manhood of common work practices. The bungalow
"Throughout much of early American history, men and women were thought of as inhabiting different spheres. According to this philosophy, men spent most their time and energy outside the home. They worked, transacted financial affairs, participated in political matters, and concerned themselves with the world at large. Women, however, were expected to devote themselves to the domestic spheres--not only performing household chores but also imparting morals and virtues to their children and making home a peaceful sanctuary for their husbands. Many Americans believed that this distinct separation and balancing of gender roles was essential to the harmonious functioning of society." (Bender 46) The "home is [woman's] appropriate and appointed sphere of action." (Bender 46) This philosophy, that was predominant throughout colonial and post-Revolutionary America, isolated women from having outside occupations as well as the pursuit of political opportunities, and most
During “the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution triggered a series of radical changes national cultural fabric of state societies, the pressures of modernization were also transforming the way of life in traditional communities of peasant and other rural folk” (Haviland et al. 349). One of these transformations brought about by the Industrial Revolution is the invention of the factory. The factory, like capitalism, originated in England, but eventually made its way to America, specifically the region of New England. The factory caused artisans to lose autonomy, now forced to work
In A Home Is Not a House, Reyner Banham starts by arguing that the main function of the typic American house is to cover its mechanical structure. In fact, he states that the use of mechanical services in architectural practice varies constantly because mechanical services are considered to be new in the profession, as well as, a cultural threat to the architect’s position in the world. To show his argument, Banham states that American houses are basically large single spaces divided by partitions inside that give a relative importance to the use of internal mechanical services, causing a threat to the need of architectural design. Similarly, American cultural characteristics, like cleanliness and hygiene, also foster the use and need of mechanical
At the start of the decade, society and the way people lived changed drastically. Women specifically were viewed in a different way. Before the 1920s, women were portrayed as the “typical housewife”. Women were supposed to stay home, cook, clean, and raise the children. During the 1920s, women were changing the culture and the stereotype of a “typical housewife”. Women began to go
New appliances were a big part of the technological and social change during the 1920s. The appliances were a big change and was the first attempt of a “smart house”. It affected housewives because now that the appliances were there, society expected them to clean the house faster and keep it tidy all day.
The housing crisis of the late 2000s rocked the economy and changed the landscape of the real estate business for years to come. Decades of people purchasing houses unfordable houses and properties with lenient loans policies led to a collective housing bubble. When the banking system faltered and the economy wilted, interest rates were raised, mortgages increased, and people lost their jobs amidst the chaos. This all culminated in tens of thousands of American losing their houses to foreclosures and short sales, as they could no longer afford the mortgage payments on their homes. The United States entered a recession and homeownership no longer appeared to be a feasible goal as many questioned whether the country could continue to support a middle-class. Former home owners became renters and in some cases homeless as the American Dream was delayed with no foreseeable return. While the future of the economy looked bleak, conditions gradually improved. American citizens regained their jobs, the United States government bailed out the banking industry, and regulations were put in place to deter such events as the mortgage crash from ever taking place again. The path to homeowner ship has been forever altered, as loans in general are now more difficult to acquire and can be accompanied by a substantial down payment.
Industrialisation and urbanisation developed during the late 1700’s. This was the process of companies removing physical labour and replacing this with machinery. The iron and the textile industries we’re two fields of work which played a big impact on the industrial revolution and the people who mainly benefited from these occupations were the very poor and working class.
Levitt and Sons needed to find building solutions that would suit the taste of their buyers, would be cost efficient thus resulting in an inexpensive price, and could be produced rapidly and in high yield. To solve this challenge Levitt and Sons designed a single level, four-room home based on the traditional American Cape Cod style.7 This simple design was modified to form four basic designs that were to be replicated. To produce the homes as quickly as possible Levitt and Sons based their construction strategy on the automobile assembly line of Henry Ford. Instead of moving the parts down an assembly line, Levitt and Sons move the labor along the product line.8 This method, along with the incorporation of off-the-shelf products, allowed for the rapid production of homes. The money and time saved on production and design allowed homes to sell at a lower price. These small homes
“American corporate designers were learned in Modernist theory, but nevertheless found bulbous aerodynamic bodyshells an appropriately slick garb for wares of a vigorous, efficient society with an aggressive faith in its future. Flashy exaggeration at the hands of the stylists, ever compelled to ‘improve’ on last year’s model, gave streamlining a bad name.” (Hodges, Coad, Stone, Sparke, Aldersey-Williams, The New Design Source Book, 1992, p.158) Discuss in relationship to the ‘innovation’ in household designs of the 1950’s, how do these designs compare to similar examples of today? Do designers today feel “compelled to improve on last years model?
Advertisements in the 50s started to glamorize being a house wife sending out the message that a woman’s role was in the home smiling, arms loaded with cooked food or women cleaning the house and portraying that the women in the advertisements were happy and content with this role in the home (Google Books, 2017)). A smiling house wife who was cooking and cleaning was a “Normal American Women’(1950s.weebly.com, 2017)) women in the 1950s were perceived as nothing more than the homemaker. It was quite unheard for a woman to go to college and receive an education, they were expected to be a stay at home wife and nothing more, they were seen as dedicated housewives who’s only goal in life were that of pleasing their husband. Society in the 1950s believed that women should not work as this would involve leaving the house and not placing attention on her family((Google Books, 2017)). Men in the 1950s had complete control over their wives with the
The Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and middle nineteenth was progressive on the grounds that it modified, revolutionized the productive capacity of England, Europe and United States. In any case, the upheaval was something more than just new machines, smoke-burping processing plants, expanded efficiency and an expanded way of life. It was an upheaval which changed English, European, and American culture down to its extremely roots. Like the Reformation or the French Revolution, no one was left unaffected. Everybody was touched in some way peasant and noble, parent and youngster, artisan and commander of industry.
The Progressive Era was a time of social work, the struggle for women’s rights, and millions of immigrants expanding into the United States. During the era, there was many poverty stricken neighborhoods. Poverty reforms were created to help poverty in the U.S., one of them being settlement houses. Settlement houses were influenced by Toynbee Hall in London. Their idea was that students and wealthy people should “settle” in impoverished neighborhood and provide services and improve the lives of the neighborhoods and those living in them. Settlement houses were designed to help the poor, including immigrants, with the help of middle class workers, in an effort to improve the neighborhoods in the poorest parts of the cities.
The Industrial Revolution was the age of the machine in the late 19th century. This was a period when the middle class increased in numbers and a mass production of common goods began to engulf the marketplace to serve the greater demand. Mass production resulted in a significant reduction in quality and form but it did reduce the cost of many goods, bringing them to much of the middle class. The problem lies with houses being riddled with products. The houses were all identical and the furniture was identical to each others neighbors. The Greene brothers were some of the pioneers who disagreed with the direction of where architecture and furniture was going. The Arts and Crafts Movement was the designers of the 20th century way of revolting against the tasteless industrial revolution. To avoid this industrial style, the Greene brothers had come up with a creative solution to build a foundation for better quality goods. They hand crafted furniture, leaded stained glass, carpets, curtains, fabrics, and other household items.
High Density is said to be the future of residential housing, although not everyone agrees to this way of thinking.
“Design is for living”. The adage fashioned a widespread shift in design during the 1940s and 1950s. It revolutionized the form by creating an electrifying visual language that signaled a new age and a fresh start- two of the powerhouses were Charles and Ray Eames. The Eameses were a husband and wife team whose unique synergy led to a whole new expression in furniture and architecture. The couple advocated the principles of Modernism through the adaptation of innova¬tion from wartime technology .Their design style can be branded as “California Modernism,” a term that is often used interchangeably with “Mid-Century Modernism.” This distinct style embodied an approach to design that opposed the “social conscience” of the Bauhaus in order to embrace looser, warmer design which was both more expressive of local character and in touch with the realities of commerce and salesmanship. With the west-coast coming-of-age, economy shift from making goods to producing information and the global expansion of American culture; their lives and work embodied some of America’s defining movements. They contributed to architecture, film, industrial and graphic design. They were known as pioneers of affordable mass production and residential constructions. The evolution from furniture designers to cultural ambassadors validated their bents and overlaps with country’s interest and projected how design can enhance the lives and practical needs of ordinary people and not just the elite.