We recently explored the Art Deco movement and its preeminent influential acoustic innovators in architectural design from Edward Durrell Stone to Wirt C. Rowland. Now, we turn to another highly significant era in modern architectural history and to the visionaries who transformed our understanding of both the visual aesthetics and the soundscapes of built environments - the Mid-Century Modernist (MCM) movement and the enduring acoustic innovations it engendered.
What Is Mid-Century Modern?
Much like its immediate predecessor, Art Deco, the Mid-Century Modernist movement is inspired and galvanized by the spirit of modernity, as the name suggests. It is characterized by a predominance of industrial materials, such as steel and concrete. It also features clean lines, geometric forms, and a minimalist ethos in which form and function are indistinguishable. In a Mid-Century Modern structure, ornamentation without utility is anathema. Every element must serve a purpose. Yet, according to the MCM style, the form and design must be aesthetically pleasing; everything that is beautiful must also be functional, and everything that is functional must also be beautiful, with beauty in simplicity as a paramount virtue.
Juxtaposed with these modernist, minimalist, and utilitarian features are other attributes, elements that hearken back to more archaic influences. MCM often softens its sharper, harder, and more modern industrial elements–its concrete and steel–with older and more organic features, such as exposed wood beams, ancient post-and-lintel constructions, shoji screens, and other partitioning features, and design schemes typically built around central courtyards and banks of sliding glass windows that let the outside in.
The result is a fascinating amalgamation of the old and the new, of the natural and the manmade, that is distinctively and gloriously Mid-Century Modern. Below we describe some of the leading figures in the illustrious Mid-Century Modernist movement, as well as their most significant achievements both in MCM aesthetics and acoustics.
Frank Lloyd Wright
It’s impossible to think of Mid-Century Modernist architecture without the name of Frank Lloyd Wright leaping immediately to mind. While Wright is justly celebrated as one of the most gifted architects in American history, his innovations in acoustic design are perhaps less widely understood.
As architects, designers, and environmental engineers pay increasing attention to the importance of the soundscape in built spaces, the appreciation for Wright’s genius in acoustic design only grows. Studies of some of Wright’s most famous buildings illuminate his gift for creating spaces that are not only highly functional and visually breathtaking but are also acoustically optimal for their designated purpose.
The Samara house, for instance, has been celebrated for the hush to be found in its interior, the particular request of the homeowners prior to construction. Situated in a suburban area close to a busy roadway, the home should have been plagued by traffic sounds and the unremitting noise pollution of modern urban life.
However, Wright ingeniously deployed myriad design strategies to provide the residents with the interior quiet for which they yearned, beginning with the deep excavation of the construction site to ensure that the home’s roofline would be level with the adjacent roadway. This ensured that Samara itself would be insulated by a surrounding bank of hillside, which would absorb the soundwaves that were not already deflected and diffused by the roofline.
To add additional layers of exterior sound mitigation, Writer integrated an angled carport between the house and the roadway, along with rows of tall trees and other landscaping. The roof itself consists of four layers of plywood and crushed marble integrated with styrofoam and roofing felt. The walls, similarly, are constructed of two layers of four-inch brick, separated by a two-inch layer of styrofoam, further increasing the walls’ soundwave absorption capacity. On the bricks’ burned exterior face is a layer of galvanized wrought iron. The result is an interior soundscape that is 10dBA quieter than the noise levels of the average home.
Eero Saarinen
Though the name Eero Saarinen may not roll off the American tongue quite as readily as the name of Frank Lloyd Wright, few architects of the MCM movement are as iconic. Indeed, Saarinen is credited with designing some of the most visually stunning and acoustically perfect buildings of the 20th century, including the TWA Flight Center, at New York City’s famed John F. Kennedy Airport.
From an acoustic standpoint, however, few of Saarinen’s creations match that of the Kresge Auditorium at the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Featuring a domed roof and curved walls, the space is optimized for sound, ensuring that audiences can hear musical and vocal performances and human speech no matter where or how far from the central stage they sit. The interior walls of the auditorium consist of smooth, highly polished wood to maximize soundwave diffusion.
To further enhance the soundscape, acoustic clouds are suspended from the domed ceiling, while the back walls of the theater are outfitted with vertical panels made of sound-absorbing materials. Thus, while the clouds help to absorb and diffuse soundwaves coming from and returning to the performance area, the vertical panels principally absorb them, preventing disquieting and unwanted reverberations throughout the space.
Alden Dow
Another notable figure in the Mid-Century Modernist movement who is also increasingly recognized as a trailblazer in acoustic design is Alden Dow, whose eye-catching constructions dominate both the suburbs and the cityscapes of the American Midwest.
Known for his commercial as well as his residential buildings, it is, perhaps, in his churches and cathedrals that Dow realized his most profound achievements in acoustic design. For example, Dow’s Saint John’s Lutheran Church, in Midland, Michigan, is widely celebrated as one of the architect’s crowning achievements.
Featuring low brick walls and an octagonal design plan, the space is primed for sound diffusion from the central sound source, the altar at the center of the sanctuary. The church’s relatively small footprint means that the congregation surrounds the officiants and performers, placing them in unusually close proximity to the pastor and choir.
In addition to the proportions and shape of the interior space, other features enhance the acoustic properties of the sanctuary. Fan-like wooden structures support the wooden steeple at the central point of the altar, maximizing soundwave diffusion from the pulpit and throughout the congregation with its 600+ person capacity. The stained glass windows of the clerestory are inserted inside low-slung, angled wooden planes and are double-paned to minimize acoustic spillover to the exterior of the church. Instead, soundwaves reflect off the walls, ceiling, and clerestory and are redirected downward at an angle, toward the congregants.
FSorb and MCM
Mid-Century Modern is an architectural movement that is about far more than form meeting function in the midst of the 20th century. Mid-Century Modern designs also exhibit significant advances in the field of acoustic engineering. From ceiling clouds to vertical acoustic panels, some of MCM’s most iconic constructions feature acoustic solutions prevalent in architecture today.
FSorb is proud to be an industry leader in acoustic design, offering state-of-the-art products to help you bring the ideal MCM soundscape to life in your next acoustic design project. We offer a full range of customizable eco-friendly acoustic products for every design need. Our wide array of shapes, colors, and patterns is certain to satisfy the most discerning connoisseur of the Mid-Century Modern aesthetic. Contact your local FSorb representative today to discuss how we can help you create the perfect soundscape for your space or, for more information on our screen designs, please email info@fsorb.com for our pricing and lead times.
At FSorb, we are motivated by improving human health and do so by creating eco-friendly acoustic products. Our mission is to help designers build beautiful spaces that reduce excess ambient noise while calming the human nervous system. With over 25 years in the acoustic business we stand behind FSorb as a durable, environmentally friendly, and low-cost product. If you want an acoustic solution that is safe to human health at an affordable price, then we are your resource.
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