Art Deco vs Streamline Moderne

アール・デコ / ストリームライン・モダン

Buildings from between the wars, sharing a metallic sheen and smooth surfaces in a geometric exterior.

How to tell them apart. Art Deco stacks setbacks vertically and carries radiating ornament. Streamline Moderne moves on horizontal lines and rounded corners alone.

Art Deco

Art Deco — クライスラー・ビルの鷲のガーゴイル 1930 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0Art Deco — 1925年パリ万国装飾美術博覧会のポスター — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainArt Deco — Antoine Bourdelle による1925年装飾美術博のポスター — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Stages urban luxury with repeating geometry and a metallic sheen.

Streamline Moderne

Streamline Moderne — グレイハウンド・バスターミナル 1938（CC BY 4.0）Streamline Moderne — コード810 1936 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Gives even stationary things speed and machine-age optimism through streamlines, horizontals, rounded corners and metal.

Art DecoStreamline Moderne
Era1920s–1930s1930s–1940s
FamilyHistorical StylesModern Architecture
KindStyleStyle
CuesSymmetry / Radiating lines / Stepped motifs / Gold and blackStreamlined forms / Horizontal bands / Rounded corners / Chrome
Best used forGiving an event a sense of occasion · Producing instant classic luxuryGiving stationary buildings or equipment an impression of speed · Shaping appliances or vehicle bodies as one mass with fewer joints
TypeTall, narrow geometric display typeWide horizontal letterforms carried sideways by speed lines
CompositionCentered, symmetrical compositionRun horizontal bands, round every corner, align openings wide
MaterialBlack, gold, ivory; repeated hairlinesChrome, opal glass, curved metal panels with the joints hidden
CautionToo much ornament turns theme-park. Let white space carry the dignity.Curves and horizontals added without any functional reason become a pattern that merely looks fast, no different from the ornament they replaced.

Put these two together

Historical Styles ／ Modern Architecture

IndexStyle