Googie
グーギー建築 / late-1940s–1960s / Style / Modern Architecture
Theatricalizes roadside commerce with exaggerated roofs, neon, glass and space-age shapes readable in an instant from a car.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Upswept roofs
- Giant neon
- Boomerang shapes
- Full glazing
Best used for
- Roadside shops and motels that must be spotted from a moving car in one second.
- Diners and bowling alleys being revived, where the era's excitement is part of the draw.
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Build the leaning script in neon and push it above the roofline.
- Composition
- Sweep the roof up on one side and glaze the corner facing traffic.
- Material
- Neon tubing, polished stone and tile, thin steel columns set at angles.
- Caution
- This is commercial architecture exaggerated for car culture and visibility, not a pile of space-age motifs, and copying the shapes while underlighting the night leaves it loud by day and dark after dark.
- Further study
- Armet & Davis / John Lautner / coffee shop modern
Related entries
- Space Age Design (スペースエイジ・デザイン)Shared effects: Futurity / Play / Exhilaration.Compare Googie and Space Age Design
- Mid-Century Modern (ミッドセンチュリー・モダン)Editorially linked for a useful contrast.Compare Googie and Mid-Century Modern
More from Modern Architecture
Continue through styles in the same Modern Architecture family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Streamline Moderne (ストリームライン・モダン)Shared effects: Futurity / Exhilaration.
- Metabolist Architecture (メタボリズム建築)Shared effects: Futurity / Exhilaration.
- High-Tech Architecture (ハイテック建築)Shared effects: Futurity / Exhilaration.
Browse all Modern Architecture entries
Cite this entry
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/googie
- Markdown
- [Googie — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/googie)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/googie">Googie — IndexStyle</a>