Architecture
Retro-futurism has appeared in some examples of postmodern architecture. In the example seen at right, the upper portion of the building is not intended to be integrated with the building but rather to appear as a separate object—a huge flying saucer-like space ship only incidentally attached to a conventional building. This appears intended not to evoke an even remotely possible future, but rather a past imagination of that future, or a reembracing of the futuristic vision of Googie architecture.
Los Angeles International Airport and its Theme Building in Los Angeles was built in 1961 as a way to commemorate the optimism of the new jet and space age and also displayed the Googie and Populuxe designs. The Theme Building (now a restaurant) was listed as a City Cultural and Historical Monument by the Los Angeles city council in 1992 and was recently refurbished by Walt Disney Imagineering in 1997. Current designs for LAX's expansion in 2012 will have the same recurring flying-saucer/spaceship themes in the new terminals and concourses.
Read more about this topic: Retro-futurism, Design and Arts
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