Alan Hess – Googie Modern: Architectural Drawings of Armet Davis Newlove
Recorded Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Architect and historian Alan Hess is author of twenty-one books on Modern architecture; his subjects include Googie, John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Ranch House, Las Vegas, and Palm Springs. He is a Commissioner on the California State Historical Resources Commission, and serves on the boards of Preserve Orange County, Palm Springs Modernism Week, and DesignOnScreen.
Hess shared discoveries from his newest book, Googie Modern: Architectural Drawings of Armet Davis Newlove, (with Michael Murphy) about that firm’s groundbreaking designs that brought Modernism to the masses in coffee shops, motels, and bowling alleys. Showing the firm’s original presentation drawings and design development sketches, the book is a window into the office’s design process and key designers. The graphic style of the drawings were both convincing tools to sell the clients, and design tools revealing the architectural character of the buildings. Though critics dismissed Googie as two-dimensional stage set design, this recent research shows that Googie is a serious aspect of twentieth century Modern architecture.
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Presented in partnership with California Preservation Foundation