The Deco Lounge: A club for dieselpunk aficionados and personas

[rovingjack]

Found a chess set that is more expensive than I can afford, but is amazing and I wants it.

Frank Lloyd Wright - Midway Gardens Polystone Chess Pieces

[rovingjack]

fixed the link, but let me know if it doesn't work.

[J. Wilhelm]

Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit creepy, kind of like HR Giger's art.

[Synistor 303]

I think it looks like Klimt made them. They look amazing!

[Miranda.T]

Very nice. Some of them feel to me lile the Soviet-era 'heroic' statues, and others Metropolis (particularly the third from the right).

Yours,
Miranda.

[rovingjack]

Very nice. Some of them feel to me lile the Soviet-era 'heroic' statues, and others Metropolis (particularly the third from the right).

Yours,
Miranda.

you mean like the Gagarin statue? yes that too is in a collection of photos I have for art deco inspirations. I love this style.


My love of this sort of work is coming out in one of my projects, I'm building a world for writing and gaming in and my Dvergar (dwarves) have slavic accents, and have a deco art style (even in their writing system), and they will have a somewhat Russian influence to their culture, including some of their heroes and monuments.

I also have an elf like race (Andlang Fey) that uses Japanese influences along with the celtic, and are more gothic/vampire aesthetic. Gonmes who are more Art Nouveau.

[Deimos]

Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit creepy, kind of like HR Giger's art.

Not only you.... I think it's a bit creepy too.
Except not H. Giger creepy...his stuff is really ultra creepy.
This is creepy in a different way...kind of distopian creepy.

But, then, I've never been a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's works anyway....except his Waterfall House.
I like the idea of it, and its situation...but, again, not crazy about the actual look of it.

[Synistor 303]

Kind of Doctor Who 'mean robot', with a little bit of Buck Rogers an Flash Gordon thrown in for good measure.

I never liked Frank Lloyd Wright's Waterfall House - I just keep imagining that cold dampness seeping into every part of it.

[Deimos]

The best "waterfall house" ever is this one: Imladris

And Elrond would never, ever let any part of it get damp ... Elves don't do "damp"

[Synistor 303]

The best "waterfall house" ever is this one: Imladris

And Elrond would never, ever let any part of get damp ... Elves don't do "damp"

Oh yes, THAT is a proper waterfall house!

[rovingjack]

FLW architecture is not my thing, too brutalist if you ask me. and about half of the art and stained glass of his designs are also not my thing.

I like Nouveau, Googie, Deco, streamline modern, celtic knotwork and cyberpunk artworks mostly. I'm okay with even more than that but deco does have it's charms.

[Deimos]

SNIP...
I like Nouveau, Googie, Deco, streamline modern, celtic knotwork and cyberpunk artworks mostly. I'm okay with even more than that but deco does have it's charms.

Yep, I like Deco in small doses.
I have a goodly number of brass stampings and "filigrees" that have the art deco look.
They are small and so don't predominate on a more Vic-Wardian wood and brass project.
But they still look good on it.   

[Banfili]

Found a chess set that is more expensive than I can afford, but is amazing and I wants it.
Frank Lloyd Wright - Midway Gardens Polystone Chess Pieces

I like it, but I don't think I'd want a set - I lean more towards Celtic/Isle of Man/Viking type chess sets. This one has a kind of Lord of the Rings meets Metropolis look.

[Banfili]

The best "waterfall house" ever is this one: Imladris

And Elrond would never, ever let any part of it get damp ... Elves don't do "damp"

Oh, yes! That is a waterfall house!

[Sorontar]

The best "waterfall house" ever is this one: Imladris

And Elrond would never, ever let any part of it get damp ... Elves don't do "damp"

Indeed. Legolas avoided even the snow.

"With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow.

'Farewell!' he said to Gandalf. `I go to find the Sun!' Then swift as a runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men, with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and vanished round the rocky turn."
(Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Ring Goes South).

Sorontar

[J. Wilhelm]

Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit creepy, kind of like HR Giger's art.

Not only you.... I think it's a bit creepy too.
Except not H. Giger creepy...his stuff is really ultra creepy.
This is creepy in a different way...kind of distopian creepy.

But, then, I've never been a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's works anyway....except his Waterfall House.
I like the idea of it, and its situation...but, again, not crazy about the actual look of it.

Actually, I'm a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, but not his Art Déco Era, I like his earlier "Prarie Style" period. He had a lot of geometry in it but the materials were much warmer. At some point he got into the Art Déco bandwagon and his style became much colder.

[Prof Marvel]

Maybe it's just me, but it's a bit creepy, kind of like HR Giger's art.

Not only you.... I think it's a bit creepy too.
Except not H. Giger creepy...his stuff is really ultra creepy.
This is creepy in a different way...kind of distopian creepy.

But, then, I've never been a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright's works anyway....except his Waterfall House.
I like the idea of it, and its situation...but, again, not crazy about the actual look of it.

Actually, I'm a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, but not his Art Déco Era, I like his earlier "Prarie Style" period. He had a lot of geometry in it but the materials were much warmer. At some point he got into the Art Déco bandwagon and his style became much colder.

I feel his prairie style was his best (except for the furniture, which is interesting to look at but horrible to sit in or use) . The designs are elegant and stunning and have inspired many.

His Falling Water house is a classic example of FLW arrogance and ignorance, it was underdesigned, extra steel reinforcing was added without his knowledge ( and he expressly forbade it!)  and it is to this day continually leaking and sagging to the point (7 inches over 15 feet ) that extraordinary redesign was needed in 1995, 1997, and 2002.  And it leaks. Did I mention it leaks? Houses should not leak.
But it leaks. 

And his infamous Johnson Wax building ( the one with the mushrooms) incorporated another FLW brain drixxle failures: structural glass tubes, without which according the FLW the building could not have been constructed.  But lo, they leaked. Badly.

Johnson Wax And The FLW Leaky Roof:
https://journaltimes.com/news/local/confronting-a-legacy-of-a-leaky-roof/article_d3988310-a36c-11df-b071-001cc4c03286.html

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright Didn't Foresee Leaky Ceilings
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB856219311753501500

The famous buildings had mold, poor lighting, and no accommodation for electricity to each desk.
And the infamous Research Tower was closed not long after opening over safety issues. Like a single spiral stair 5stories tall and only 29 inches wide. And no elevator. And Did I mention they leaked?

On the other hand the Guggenheim Museum is an admirable success. And still beautiful!

Btw I also hate tommy edison

Yhs
Prof marvel

[Deimos]

SNIP ...Btw I also hate tommy edison

Yhs
Prof marvel

OK...why do you hate Edison?  (This I'm dying to know.... )  

[Deimos]

....

On the other hand the Guggenheim Museum is an admirable success. And still beautiful!....

Yhs
Prof marvel

De gustibus non disputandum est.

Like RovingJack I think the museum exemplifies the "brutalist"  FLW designs.  

[J. Wilhelm]

I feel his prairie style was his best (except for the furniture, which is interesting to look at but horrible to sit in or use) . The designs are elegant and stunning and have inspired many.

His Falling Water house is a classic example of FLW arrogance and ignorance, it was underdesigned, extra steel reinforcing was added without his knowledge ( and he expressly forbade it!)  and it is to this day continually leaking and sagging to the point (7 inches over 15 feet ) that extraordinary redesign was needed in 1995, 1997, and 2002.  And it leaks. Did I mention it leaks? Houses should not leak.
But it leaks. 

Hahaha! Well, the problem with architects is that they often design for functionality and art, but it doesn't mean that they are infallible on the practical aspect of site selection and planning. We had a neighbor in CDMX who build a very large duplex house next to us (Americans would call that a mansion due to the size). The environment was a street on the side of a very large and steep hill. The plots upon the street (about 20 plots long) were obviously not horizontal. So you could only do one of two things. You could build on top of the hillside on a flat plateau (which we did), or you could slice a block of dirt 3 stories high down to the street level, like slicing a giant piece of cake. Most neighbors chose to do the latter.

But our architect neighbor chose to do an all-concrete brutalist house (as it's a common style for luxury residence in Mexico), and didn't take the precaution of considering the underground water movement. They had a tennis court, garden and other structures separating the house from the sliced hill. But that wasn't enough for keeping underground water from flooding said mansion several times per year (up to several feet of height in the bedrooms during monsoon season!)

[Deimos]

So what finally happened to the house?
Did he raze it and start over?
Or did he sell it to some poor sap without disclosing the flooding problem?

[Synistor 303]

Used to drive past a block of land with a gully running through the middle of it. One day they cleared the block and bulldozed all the topsoil into the gully to 'smooth' the block off. Then they put a concrete slab over the topsoil and built a house on it.

It was fine for two dry years, then we had a wet, wet year and the house cracked in the middle and slid down the hill while also sinking into the gully.

Great suing followed.

[Deimos]

Used to drive past a block of land with a gully running through the middle of it. One day they cleared the block and bulldozed all the topsoil into the gully to 'smooth' the block off. Then they put a concrete slab over the topsoil and built a house on it.

It was fine for two dry years, then we had a wet, wet year and the house cracked in the middle and slid down the hill while also sinking into the gully.

Great suing followed.

That would have been amazing to watch happen in real time. 
I think I would have paid money just to see it.

[Sorontar]

Used to drive past a block of land with a gully running through the middle of it. One day they cleared the block and bulldozed all the topsoil into the gully to 'smooth' the block off. Then they put a concrete slab over the topsoil and built a house on it.

It was fine for two dry years, then we had a wet, wet year and the house cracked in the middle and slid down the hill while also sinking into the gully.

Great suing followed.

Wow. When we sold our house, the sale documents had to include whether there was any area in the immediate neighbourhood that was a flood risk.

Sorontar

[Deimos]

Ditto here in the States.
Topographic maps show all the flood plains.
The Salt River (Rio Salado) is down the hill from my house, about a 2 km away and is typically dry except during our "monsoon" July through Sept.  and even then doesn't flood.....except when we had 2 "100 year floods" within 2 decades.

Video shows the second one (1993)  when it took out a partially constructed bridge 6 miles downstream.

1993 Mill Avenue bridge destroyed by flooding

If you buy a house in the flood plain you have to buy flood insurance.
I live up on a mesa about 50 feet above the flood plain, so I didn't have to buy it.