Tag Archives: modern design

New Books at the Architecture & Planning Library: Identity and Interior Design

Interior design is based on expectations and aspirations of how the inhabitants of a space will live and behave.  In this way interior design not only reflects the lifestyle of the inhabitants, it can be used to project personality traits the inhabitants wish to convey. Several new books at the Architecture & Planning Library this week focus on the fascinating intersection of interior design with personal identity.

Biography, Identity and the Modern Interior edited by Anne Massey and Penny Sparke is a collection of essays that consider the historical insights that can be gleaned from investigating the lives of individuals, groups, and interiors. The authors use case studies to explore the history of the interior as a site in which everyday life is experienced and the ways in which architects and interior designers draw on personal and collective histories in their practice.

 

Bachelors of a Different Sort: Queer Aesthetics, Material Culture and the Modern Interior by John Potvin examines the ambivalent and uncomfortable position bachelors have held in society by considering the complicated relationships between the modern queer bachelor and interior design, material culture, and aesthetics in Britain between 1885 and 1957. The author discusses the interiors of Lord Ronald Gower, Alfred Taylor, Oscar Wilde, Charles Shannon and Charles Ricketts, Edward Perry Warren and John Marshall, Sir Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines, Noël Coward and Cecil Beaton.

Ron Arad: Another Twist in the Plot with text by Anatxu Zabalbeascoa is the catalog from a 2013 exhibition of the work of architect and designer Ron Arad, that includes photographs and sketches of some of his most iconic works as well as several mock-ups and architectural projects. Arad considers himself to be a self-taught designer with an approach to form and structure based on freedom from tradition and convention.  ‘The principle is that everything should be based on something that didn’t exist before’, says Arad.

 

*Click the title of any book in this post to link directly to the library catalog.

Journal Feature: AMC Le moniteur architecture

In honor of the upcoming 101 Years of Interior Design Celebration in late October, our journal feature this week showcases some of 2013’s best interior projects. AMC Le moniteur architecture is a French language periodical that the Architecture & Planning Library receives monthly, and the delivery of their special annual publication came at an apt time!

If you’re not versed in French, no worries – AMC is full of large-scale drawings and beautiful photographs, which is universal for any language. This special issue features office, tourism, retail, and restaurant projects with innovative and striking interiors. My first thought while flipping through the pages: if I had consistently looked through journals during my studios as an undergraduate, my designs would have been so much more influenced by modern worldly trends! It’s hard to not feel inspired by each and every project.

Our Reading Room’s east wall is lined with periodicals from across the globe focusing on interior design, architecture, planning, sustainable design, historic preservation, construction technology, and beyond. We encourage you to flip through one (or two… or twelve) to get an in-depth look at what’s happening in the design world today!

If you’re interested in more great interior design periodicals, we also highly recommend Project Russia, a journal from Russia (no kidding). This month’s issue revolves around the possibility that design may be entering another age of exciting change. The articles are in English, too!

AMC Le moniter architecture Call Number: NA 1048.6A673
Project Russia Call Number: NA 1188 P764