The Organic Symmetry of Form and Nature in Mid-Century Modern Design
Bringing the Organic Symmetry of Mid-Century Modern Design To Accessory Dwelling Units
On a recent road trip to New Mexico, we took a detour out to Palm Springs to explore. As a designer who loves mid-century modern design in all its forms, Palm Springs is a mecca, famous for providing the historical inspiration for true mid-century modern architecture.
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We love getting inspired when traveling, and this detour was just what the doctor ordered! We noticed that all of the classic mid-century architecture throughout Palm Springs exhibits a variability of texture. This texture on the buildings achieved two things – in a nod to the Prairie School and Frank Lloyd Wright, it spoke to the structure's natural surroundings by creating an organic symmetry while holding a firm building form. Secondly, it created a natural screening for privacy.
In this post, we're going to look at the architectural elements of mid-century design born out of the Prairie school and how we're taking those elements into the 21st century by incorporating them into the construction of Accessory Dwelling Units.
The Roots of a Style
Early 20th-century architects lead by Frank Lloyd Wright, one of the founders of the Prairie School, gave us homes inspired by the surrounding landscape and using the technology available to create housing designs that blended into the environment, utilizing natural materials. These natural and design elements were carried forward into mid-century modern home design and are a key element of the style.
Wright's highly styled designs are easily identifiable. They often feature broad overhanging hipped roofs, contracting concrete caps on linear brick walls, and one or two-story massing arranged in a free-form asymmetrical manner.
The distinctly midwestern Prairie style was strongly modern from its inception in the late 1800s until around the 1930s. As its popularity faded, America was drawn into the second world war, and home design was about to change once again.
The Prairie Style Evolves
Post-war American was celebrating its newfound power in the world. As our soldiers returned home, they looked to settle down, raise a family, and live their lives. There was an optimism for the future that would enter into the design world. As the demand for housing exploded, architects and designers began to design homes with a forward-looking style with the goal of creating social change leading to a better society.
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright was a major influence, training the next generation of mid-century modern architects like Richard Neutra and Rudolph Schindler. This new generation of designers borrowed many of the best features of the Wright's Prairie style, including flat planes, large glass windows, open space, and textural, natural materials like brick, wood, and stone. These homes featured simplicity, clean lines, and an integration with nature that encouraged homeowners to explore the world in new ways.
The Key Elements of Mid-Century Modern Design
Mid-century modern architecture borrowed heavily from the Prairie School. Many of these characteristics became classic design elements of mid-century homes, including these key elements:
Flat Planes - The geometric lines of the mid-century modern house are regular and pronounced. In Palm Springs, classic flat roofs are common. However, modern ranch-style homes found throughout the south, midwest, and east typically had gable roofs.
Large Windows - Sliding glass doors inviting indoor/outdoor living spaces and other large expanses of glass allow ample natural light to enter rooms from multiple angles.
Changes in Elevation - Mid-century modern homes often feature small steps going up and down between rooms to create split-level spaces. A mid-century modern home might have partial walls or cabinets of varying heights to create different depths in the interior space.
Integration With Nature - This is a major element carried from the Prairie School to mid-century modern design. Rooms will have multiple outdoor views or multiple access points, encouraging an appreciation of healthy living. Another key design element of mid-century home design is the use of screens to provide privacy in outdoor spaces. For example, a home may have an access door to a patio located in the front of the house. To provide privacy, the architect may include a screen typically made of textural material like wood or stone, often in contrast to the materials used on the home's exterior. This variety of textures gave the home an organic symmetry along with providing the homeowners with privacy.
And Now... Back to Palm Springs
During our tour of the classic mid-century architecture of Palm Springs, we were admiring the many privacy screens and unique outdoor features of classic mid-century design when it occurred to us that many of the ADUs we are designing are in an urban context or in a backyard where there is little or no view or privacy.
View and privacy are important elements for creating a home that is comfortable, private, and functional. We thought, “Gee, wouldn't it be nice if we started including some of these privacy screening elements into our ADU designs.”
Bring Mid-Century Modern Design Elements to ADUs
Much like adopting Prairie School elements into the mid-century modern design school, today, the growing trend in housing is the proliferation of Accessory Dwelling Units. At Om Design, we are designing more and more ADUs for homeowners as mixed-use space, in-law apartments, and rental housing. To bring our designs forward into the new school, we're incorporating mid-century modern design elements into our designs.
These mid-century screening elements can be combined with landscaping or crawling plants to create a “view” or greenscape for the renter of the ADU and can also function to separate the primary house from the rental. All of this can be done without building a big ugly fence. Moving design-forward, we can pay homage to the best of the mid-century modern design aesthetic and move architectural design onto the next design phase.
If you'd like to learn more about how to incorporate the best elements of mid-century modern design into your ADU project and how we can help, give us a call at (831) 607-8772. We're always happy to discuss your project, answer your questions, and explain all of your options!