Kills Me Dead

1. Despite what the synopsis might have you believe, do not go into this thinking it’s a road trip up the coast of California with stops in at iconic buildings. It’s not. It’s houses that happen to be on the west coast and that were built with a west coast sensibility, but this isn’t a road trip by any means.
2. It struck me that everyone in the film seemed to lament that not more of the population was into this style of architecture while also seemingly not understanding the intense world of privilege that come with that. At one point they talk about how when the post-war suburban building boom started, proponents of modernist architecture collectively turned up their noses at the idea of designing units in suburban housing divisions because they thought themselves too elite for that, and yet despite this small bit of commentary on unique vs mass consumption architecture, that angle was pretty much abandoned for the rest of the film as people paid no real attention to the fact that, yes, you have this beautiful home but to have such a beautiful home requires a) zillions of dollars to purchase a home of this style, or b) zillions of dollars to build a home of this style, and c) zillions of dollars with which to purchase a tract of land large enough to build not just the house but the landscape and outdoor spaces that are integral to enjoying a home built in this style. I’d wager that the reason only 10% of people like this style (an arbitrary number probably not based on anything but thrown out by someone in the film) is because only 10% of people can actually fathom living in a space like that.
3. It would be unfair to characterize all post-war building efforts as being poorly designed, of course, and they did mention one company that tried to integrate modernist ideas into their subdivisions; these homes aren’t as successful as the homes they were inspired by, of course, since you can hardly do the same kind of play between indoor/outdoor when you’re building on a small lot in a subdivision rather than acres on the coast, but they tried their best. And anything is better than the horrifying megahouses built in the 1980s that they later showed, but it felt like by that point in time the world was being punished for these 1940s modernists refusing to get in on the housing boom. YOU GUYS ARE ASSHOLES, BY THE WAY, THIS IS THE PART OF YOUR LEGACY NO ONE TALKS ABOUT.
4. Which generally seems to be a running theme with creatives from this time period, really; I’m thinking mostly of the Abstract Expressionists, who were a little later than some of the earlier architects in this film, but there’s a weird sort of manifest destiny, conquering the wilds, man-against-nature schtick these dudes have that pays no mind to anything but their own self-centredness. But, you know, Frank Lloyd Wright was a total asshole too, so maybe it’s that kind of personality that results in great, beautiful, moving, wonderful things in the world. I don’t know.
5. I would still like to live in one of these houses, though.
6. They spoke to a surprising number of female architects and architectural writers, which surprised me only because when you organize a panel of people on a subject, you usually have to make a decision to actively put women on said panel when the discussion topic is not considered a niche-topic for women (e.g. I guarantee you any panels about parenting are filled by women first and then men, ugh). When I was eleven I wanted to be an architect and while obviously I never pursued that for reasons I can no longer remember — other than that few people end up doing what they wanted to do when they were eleven — maybe a film like this will give other young would-be lady architects an opportunity to see themselves on screen. I don’t know why I’m under the impression that any pre-teen would watch this movie.
7. I just really like design, guys. I like how you can’t escape it and how we inhabit it in literally everything we do and how despite that it’s such a powerful tool to foster a sense of well-being in our lives, people still use fucking Comic Sans when sending emails.

Because Coast Modern is only 55 minutes long, it was preceded by Three Walls, a documentary short that “traces the development of the office cubicle since its inception in the late 1960s to its current status as the dominant form of office furniture in North America.”

1. As someone who has worked in a regular cubicle as well as an open concept “take down the walls” cubicle, I can appreciate many of the feelings shared in this short.
2. It was interesting that all the cubicle workers they spoke to, save one, were women, and that all the people speaking about the history of the cubicle, why we work in cubicles, how cubicles shape our worlds and are designed to make us unhappy, were men.
3. Loved the guy who was like “Taking down cubicle walls and opening up spaces doesn’t increase communication or productivity, it just means the company doesn’t want to buy more cubicle pieces”… says the guy who works for the manufacturer. Your bias is showing!