For Immediate Release: September 11, 2013
Media Contacts: Emma Filar, Marketing & Communications Associate
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The National Building Museum Presents Overdrive: L.A. Constructs The Future, 1940-1990
Only East Coast Venue for Getty's New Survey of L.A.’s Celebrated Landmarks and Hidden Architectural Jewels
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| LAX Theme Building by Pereira & Luckman, Welton Becket & Associates, and Paul R. Williams, construction completed 1961. Pencil, watercolor, and gouache on board, 1958, 36 x 48 in. (91.4 x 121.9 cm). From the Alan E. Leib Collection. Image courtesy of and © Luckman Salas O'Brien |
WASHINGTON, D.C.—This October, the National Building Museum will be the only East Coast venue to present Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990, the first comprehensive survey of the architecture of mid-to-late twentieth-century Los Angeles. This major exhibition will shed new light on well-known landmarks, uncover hidden jewels, and explore the architectural soul of one of America’s most complex cities. Overdrive will open October 20, 2013 and will close March 10, 2014.
Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990 will, for the first time, offer an in-depth view of the free-spirited, often experimental architecture of Los Angeles, from its ambitious freeway network, sleek corporate towers, and whimsical coffee shops, to popular shopping malls, refined steel-and-glass residences, and eclectic cultural institutions.
Original drawings, photographs, models, vintage film clips, and digital displays will reveal the complex and often underappreciated facets of L.A.’s built landscape, and will illustrate how the world’s first megacity became an internationally recognized destination with its own design vocabulary, canonized landmarks, and coveted lifestyle.
The exhibition’s thematic sections will explore:
- Car Culture: As the automobile transformed from merely a means of independent transportation into a mode of personal expression, L.A. architects sought to create new kinds of structures geared toward motorized lifestyles. From drive-in churches to coffee shops conceived to attract attention from drivers whizzing by at high speed, such car-oriented buildings shaped the city’s reputation as the capital of curbside culture.
- Urban Networks: Highlighting projects that provided a foundation for the region’s transformation into a global powerhouse, this section explores works of infrastructure ranging from L.A.’s vast network of freeways, to the channelization of the Los Angeles River, to the Hoover Dam, which supplies electrical power to the city from 266 miles away.
- Engines of Innovation: Thriving industries and other economic engines gave designers access to innovative materials and fabrication technologies and vital financial capital. Architects were challenged to design dynamic new building types, including cutting-edge aerospace headquarters and the world’s first television studio complex, CBS Television City.
- Community Magnets: Ambitious civic projects such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall are important local landmarks that have also become world-famous architectural icons. A number of institutional projects, such as Disneyland and the Getty Villa, contributed to L.A.’s image as a place that blurred the lines between fantasy and reality.
- Residential Fabric: L.A.’s benign climate and varied terrain encouraged architects to rethink the configuration and aesthetics of the conventional dwelling. The famed Case Study House program, launched in 1945, yielded a series of highly innovative residences. Developers such as Joseph Eichler brought new ideas to the planning of large-scale communities, while visionary architects including John Lautner and Frank Gehry created some of the most striking single-family houses ever built.
“Everyone has a mental image of Los Angeles thanks to its frequent depictions in movies and on television,” said Chase W. Rynd, executive director of the National Building Museum, “but few people have a clear understanding of how and why this city came to be a center of cutting-edge architecture. Overdrive helps to explain the remarkable design culture that emerged in L.A. during the mid-to-late twentieth century.”
Tickets: Admission to Museum exhibitions is $8 for adults, $5 for youth, students, and seniors, and free for National Building Museum members and children under three. Visit go.nbm.org/tickets to purchase tickets online.
Press Preview: Thursday, October 17, 11 am. Register here or contact Emma Filar at efilar@nbm.org or 202.272.2448, ext. 3458.
Co-organized by the Getty Research Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940–1990 was part of the initiative Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A., which celebrated Southern California's lasting impact on modern architecture through exhibitions and programs organized by seventeen area cultural institutions from April through July 2013.
The National Building Museum will serve as the only East Coast venue for the exhibition, and Overdrive will form the centerpiece of the Museum’s fall programming.
Additional information about the exhibition and related programming is available on www.nbm.org.
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to advancing the quality of the built environment by educating people about its impact on their lives. Through its exhibitions, educational programs, online content, and publications, the Museum has become a vital forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the world we build for ourselves. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.nbm.org. Connect with us on Twitter: @BuildingMuseum and Facebook.
