Googie Architecture

Googie architecture (also known as populuxe or doo-wop) is a form of novelty architecture and a subdivision of futurist architecture, influenced by car culture and the Space Age and Atomic Age.
Originating in Southern California in the late 1940s and continuing approximately into the mid-1960s, the types of buildings that were most frequently designed in a Googie style were motels, coffee houses and bowling alleys.

HISTORY :
Googie's roots lie in the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s. Mobility in Los Angeles in 1930s was characterized by the initial influx of the automobile and the service industry that evolved to cater to it. With car ownership increasing, cities no longer had to be centered on a central downtown but could spread out to the suburbs, where business hubs could be interspersed with residential areas. The suburbs offered less congestion by offering the same businesses, but accessible by car. Instead of one flagship store downtown, businesses now had multiple stores in suburban areas. This new approach required owners and architects to develop a visual brand so customers would recognize it from the road. This modern consumer architecture was based on communication.

FEATURES :
Ø Upswept roofs
Ø Curvaceous, geometric shapes
Ø Bold use of glass, steel and neon
Ø Space-age designs that depict motion, such as boomerangs, flying saucers, atoms and parabolas
Ø Free-form designs such as "soft" parallelograms
Ø The ubiquitous artist's- palette motif

ARCHITECTURE :

Cantilevered structures, acute angles, illuminated plastic panelling, freeform boomerang and artist's palette shapes and cutouts, and tailfins on buildings marked Googie architecture, which was beneath contempt to the architects of Modernism, but found defenders in the post-Modern climate at the end of the 20th century.
The common elements that generally distinguish Googie from other forms of architecture are:
Ø Roofs sloping at an upward angle - This is the one particular element in which architects were really showing off, and also creating a unique structure. Many roofs of Googie style coffee shops, and other structures, have a roof that appear to be 2/3 of an inverted obtuse triangle. A great example of this is the famous, but now closed, Johnie's Coffee Shop on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Ø Starbursts - Starbursts are an ornament that goes hand in hand with the Googie style, showing its Space Age and whimsical influences. Perhaps the most notable example of the starburst appears on the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, which has now become somewhat famous. The ornamental design is in the form of, as Hess writes, "a high-energy explosion. This shape is born of the 1950s fascination with the future and atomic age. It’s also an example of non-utilitarian design as the star shape has no actual function but merely serves as a design element.

DISCONTINUATION OF GOOGIE :
Ø Rationing led to a pause in the development due to the imposed frugality on the American public.
Ø The architectural community never appreciated or accepted Googie, considering it too flashy and vernacular for academic praise. The conventional architecture of the 1970s (led by Modernism) reflected this in the turning away from Googie.
Ø It was too late to save famous landmarks such as Googie’s and Ship’s which were demolished. Despite the loss of these important landmarks, other famous Googie buildings such as the Wich Stand and some of the original Bob’s Big Boy locations have been preserved and even restored to their original splendor.