I am always leery when well-meaning groups attempt to resurrect historic theaters, restaurants, etc. There was a reason they failed in the first place; why not save the building AND use some creative thinking to figure out a more feasible purpose for it that will succeed?
Designed by mid-century modern architect E. Stewart Williams, the Palm Springs Art Museum Architecture and Design Center (wow, that's a mouth full) is such a building.
This 1960 classic mid-century international style structure began its life as the Santa Fe Federal Savings & Loan until it became a Design Center Museum in 2014. Recently it was designated as a protected Class I Historic Site. The current exhibit is Hugh Kaptur: Organic Desert Architecture.
Consisting of vintage architectural plans and models, it was love at first site for me!
Elements of the original Savings & Loan have been retained, adding dimension to the story of the museum.
More Palm Springs adaptive reuse stories to come! See more Palm Springs photos at my main website.
I really value architectural models. You get a real feel for buildings made back when creative influence was a thing. I wouldn't mind a whole museum dedicated to that, or even a section in Disney dedicated to just the models of past & future attractions. ( Or attractions that were designed and never built. )
ReplyDeleteAgreed. There is something about an architectural model that draws even the untrained viewer in ways a drawing will never do.
ReplyDeleteAll the projects I have worked on where we needed to "sell" an idea to investors or donors have had nice models made up.
Back before 3D CAD, a model was the only way to reliably design complex forms. But they are expensive, time consuming and hard to change, so often are no longer used in design.
Instead, when the design is fairly resolved, the model is made up for PR.
This looks like a fun museum, Dave. Thanks for posting this.
JG