Traditional Modern and the Collage House
Popular home magazines played a large role in
the development of the domestic culture industry that took place in the 40’s. In particular they promoted the traditional versus modern debate. From this debate, and numerous reader opinion polls, a hybrid middle-class dwelling emerged that was a modern interior containing open plans, numerous large windows, flexibility and efficient storage, which were all wrapped in a traditional 12
looking facade. A larger scale version of this “modern,
Notes 12 Smiley, 41.
but without the look” hybrid has evolved to become what we know today as the “McMansion”.
A similar debate was occurring in the design
community, and as a result the tenets of domestic modernism were split into moieties. One faction emphasized production; modular units, standardization and factory fabrication. The other focused on effortless inhabitation; flexibility, open plans, and efficient storage. The aesthetic of tectonic modernism was derived theoretically from its process of manufacture, and therefore could not be conceptually divorced from a