[Norfolk Development 2]

also another thing that was going on at this time was the popularity of cars was on the rise...it was thought that it was very important to use large lettering and large simple detail surfaces to attract someone's eye as they drive by....especially with a smaller building like this, it was definitely seen as a way to make their store stand out and suggest that they were modern and apart of the times.

The biggest issue I have with modern architecture is the complete disregard that it had from the lessons from the past that were learned. Modernists wanted a clean slate to work with, and we are all aware that there is no such thing as a clean slate, you always have to work with what is presently there....though Post Modernism I hate even more because it ignored the mistakes of modernism and picked randomly from the past and applied it to architecture in a very haphazardly way that was absolutely pointless.

But Post Modernism wasn't about either haphazardly or randomly applying elements from the past. Architects like Charles Moore carefully pulled from the past to create complex and literate buildings. That others misinterpreted those designs and produced crap is hardly cause to condemn the whole movement.

[Norfolk Development 2]

Well modernism was all about straight lines, sleekness, futuristic/new world. Something as simple as turning an older building into a sleek, plain box was an improvement. They tried to adapt the building to the time. Now we look at the old facade and think "wow how historic!" Back in the modernist movement, it probably just looked tired and old in a time when everything was about newness and the future.

A lesson we would do well to remember before we tear down all of those Modernist eyesores.