Positioned so that, on camera, a 70-foot model of a “rocket-powered ship” was visible in the background,Walt Disneyclutched a plaque in one hand and a small microphone in the other. It was July 17, 1955, but when thelive televised tourof his new theme park in Anaheim, California, reached Tomorrowland, the90 million Americanstuned into the opening-day broadcast suddenly found themselvesin 1986—at least according to the 15-foot-tall世界时钟at the park’s entrance.
“Tomorrow,” Walt read from the plaque as he dedicated the forward-looking section of Disneyland, “offers new frontiers in science, adventure, and ideals: the atomic age, the challenge of outer space, and the hope for a peaceful and unified world.” Then, following the release of a substantial flock of doves, a nuclear physicist used ping-pong balls and mousetraps to simulate an atomic chain reaction while hyping the endless possibilities of this new technology.
It had been a decade since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing anestimated 210,000 deathsand immeasurable destruction, contributing to the end of World War II, and ushering in the atomic age. As millions of GIs returned from the war, many settled in the country’s growing suburbs with their families, where housing was affordable yet compact.
解决方案?年代leek,streamlined, functional interiors,which often incorporated conspicuous references to the basis of the technology that helped bring the soldiers home: the atom. Or, more accurately, the ball-and-stick representations of a model of an atom you’d draw in elementary school science class.
Despite their dark origins, the vibrant colors and playful shapes of atomic age design were embraced in both interior and exterior residential and commercial spaces through the postwar years and into the early 1960s. “The words ‘atomic’ and ‘nuclear’ were on the tip of everyone’s tongue because of the dramatic ending to the war,” explains Howard Hawkes, an interior designer and cofounder ofH3K Home+Design,a Palm Springs-based firm specializing in all thingsmidcentury modern.“Atomic technology became a national obsession—and so did imagery of the atom.”
Patterns, prints, furniture, and decor that drew inspiration from nuclear science infiltrated homes and pop culture. The exuberant style provided people with a hopeful, idealistic version of the future in movies, on television, and at theme parks. To this day, the atomic age aesthetic remains visual shorthand for the future.
Here’s a look back at the history of this decor of the future, including its place in the ongoing midcentury-modern revival of the present.
A fusion of science and design
The postwar era wasn’t the first time groundbreaking scientific innovations influenced design. As earlyas the 1890s—roughly a decade after thefirst sections of Manhattan were electrified—architects and other artists were incorporatinglightning bolts,light bulbs,andtelegraph wiresdepicting the invisible yetpowerful forceinto their work. This theme continued through the 1920s, when thezigzagsof electrical currents integrated seamlessly into the emerging艺术装饰风格aesthetic’ssharp geometric ornamentation.