This is a valid criticism of how modernism played out in Tucson, but the irony is that modernism was rooted in the idea of inexpensive, good design available to all. One of the grandfathers of modernism, Gerrit Reitveld, famously took the crates that expensive custom furniture was delivered in and used the material to fashion a line of easy to build, simple but good looking furniture. The origin of the modern movement was in the Bauhaus, a movement and organization that turned its back on fancy and costly adornment and sought to bring good simple design to everyone. Corbusier was far more interested in designing public housing than fancy furniture. Many of the founders of modernism would find the costly stylization that later marked the movement to be antithetical to their own principles, rooted as they were in early 20th century social democracy. Plywood, concrete, post and beam, glass brick, these were cheap ways to build beautiful things. Modernism was meant to be an artistic mass movement, to free people from the consumerism of disposable fashion, not a status symbol machine to produce disposable fashion. That said, now that modern architecture exists in Tucson, the best thing to do is embrace it, restore it, and avoid another hideous cycle of destruction, redevelopment and bubble economics.
Recent Comments