CONTEMPORARY AND MID-CENTURY MODERNISM While Contemporary Modern describes architecture being created in the present, Mid-Century Modern refers to an architectural – as well as design and furniture – style prevalent from ca. 1940 to 1970. Architecturally, the goal of Modernism was not the invention of a new style, but a much-needed liberation from the historical precedents and stylistical quotes of the 19th Century. Modernism can be observed in many commercial buildings, but is even more common in residential structures. In form language related to Googie and Space Age, its roots are found in the German Bauhaus, the International Style and the Scandinavian style. Mid-Century and also Contemporary Modern architecture is typified by clean lines clutter-free open and flexible spaces the reduction of building elements to a specific function without ornamentation the quest for elegant simplicity a connection between inside and outside spaces (see also Modern Elements) There are too many stellar modernist practitioners to mention here, but two should: Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies. Gropius was director of the German Bauhaus; together with Mies and Le Corbusier he is considered one of the pioneers of modern architecure. Mies, who appended a Dutch van der and his mother’s maiden-name Rohe to his last name, later became director of the Bauhaus, before he and Gropius decided in the 1930s to rather leave Germany than live under Hitler's regime.  Both immigrated to the US, where they took up teaching and became a major influence to a whole generation of architects. Some of the best-known examples of Mid-Century Modern architecture are the famous Case Study Houses, which were built in the US between 1948 and 1966. Arts & Architecture magazine (1938 - 1967) had commissioned eight significant architects to design inexpensive model homes, aimed at the post-WW II housing boom in the US. These houses were mostly built in the Los Angeles area, with some also located in San Francisco and Phoenix. Today, Mid-Century Modern exists mostly in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Seattle, Chicago, New Jersey, the Triangle region of North Carolina as well as in South Florida: in Sarasota, greater Miami and greater Fort Lauderdale. .

MODERNISM IN SOUTHEAST FLORIDA Modernism in Southeast Florida came into it’s own in the 1940s. As in California, Florida’s climate made a connection between inside and outside spaces not only possible, but also desirable – especially since smaller houses could be made to feel much more spacious than they actually were. Today, even though especially mid-century modern architecture often slumbers unrecognized, great modernist structures can found throughout Miami-Dade (better known for it’s Art Deco style), Broward and to some extent also Palm Beach county.   But thankfully, there is a noticable shift in current taste in Southeast Florida, moving ever so slowly away from Spanish-Mediterranean revival to modern architecture. The change, albeit with the dynamic of a sand-dune, can be observed in the renewed interest in saving existing modernist structures, and also in new home construction and some new townhouse developments throughout the region. Nevertheless, many original Mid-Century Modern structures in Southeast Florida are threatened by ignorance, neglect and demolition, or have already been lost. Photos: top: case study house #22 by Pierre Koenig for Stahl, Los Angeles, CA, ©Julius Shulman. Bottom: case study house #9 by Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames for Entenza, Pacific Palisades, CA, ©Julius Shulman Cover: Arts & Architecure January 1943, designed by Ray Eames (née Ray Kaiser!) Source: Library of Congress