Tutorial Questions: Week 6

Reading – Radical Interiority: Playboy Architecture 1953-1979 by Beatriz Colomina

1. How does Colomina say Playboy Magazine affected reader’s tastes or desires for interior space?
   
   – Turns interiors into a masculine space, made it appropriate for men to be interested, more seductive than playmates, created a cycle of desire.
   
   
2. Who were some prominent Modernist designers? What do their designs have in common?
   
   – Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Charles Eames…
   – Industrial feel, sleek, refined, simple, rich materials, masculine.
   
   
3. What is the social context of the beginnings of Playboy Magazine in 1953? What else was happening (or had happened) in the world at the time?
   
   – Not long after end of WW2, birth control became available giving women more choice and control over their bodies/having babies, America considered socially conservative and highly materialistic, time of rebellion, expansion of middle class, increased consumerism, prudish society(Playboy would’ve been considered outrageous).
   
   
4. How did that change between 1953-1979
   
   – Social statuses changed, society went a bit mad, things that had previously been only for the rich were now accessible to most.
   
   
5. Why do you think Playboy Magazine is described by Colomina as making “it acceptable for men to be interested in modern architecture and design”? Why do you think that it might have been seen prior to this as “unacceptable” in the public consciousness?
   
   – The womens department was the home and interiors, men were expected to go to work and provide and be doing the ‘hard’ work outdoors.
   – Gender roles were important in society and people conformed to them.
   
   
6. How does the desirable contemporary interior differ from the “Playboy Interior”, or from Modernist interior?
   
   – Playboy Interior designed to seduce and play a part, not the interior you would have in your every day home, furniture design all was inviting and designed to be laid out in.
   – Contemporary was more homely and standard, things you would comfortably use from day to day.
   
   
7. What does Colomina say makes the Playboy Interior feel ‘futuristic’, or ‘seductive’?
   
   – Unobtainable design for most people, furniture is mostly circular (inviting, seductive, unique.
   
   
8. What interior design trends from the era feel ‘current’ and what trends feel ‘dated’?
   
   – Colour palettes can easily feel dated
   – Simple modernist forms feel current
   
   
9. What magazine/publication/platform would you describe as having a big influence on interior design and taste now?
   
   – Vogue, Architectural Digest, Dezeen
   – Instagram, Youtube, Pinterest
   
   
10. How do you think social/cultural/political shifts have altered how we want to live in or design our interior spaces now?
    
    – Less social standards now make it more appropriate to decorate to your own taste, previously you would be judged by society for having a home that wasn’t the standard.
    – Social media has given us an insight into the homes of the mega-wealthy and made that something to aspire to.