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Today, I honor the birth of visionary building designer John Lautner, born on July 16, 1911, and the architectural movement he helped establish, known as Googie-Style.

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Yes, that's Goo·gee, not Goo·gl. But first...

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In 1933, John Lautner graduated from Northern Michigan University with a degree in English and soon started a six-year job working alongside Frank Lloyd Wright. He was part of the first class of Taliesin Fellows in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

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During his time with Wright, he helped supervise some incredible projects, including Fallingwater in Pennsylvania and the Johnson Wax Building in Wisconsin. He even oversaw a lesser-known Wright-designed house for his mother-in-law, Abby Beecher Roberts, known as the Deertrack House in Marquette, Michigan.

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Lautner moved to California and opened a practice in 1938. The majority of his works were residential, and he is remembered for several Atomic Age houses he designed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the Leonard Malin House (aka Chemosphere), the Paul Sheats House, and the Russ Garcia House (aka The Rainbow House).

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The iconic Elrod House (after clicking the link, scroll right) gained him fame as a featured location in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.

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A stone's throw from Elrod House is the Bob and Delores Hope house, where (rumors have it) gobs of VIPs were hosted each year during the Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournaments (now The American Express).

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Anyway, in 1952, a House & Home magazine article titled "Googie Architecture" used the phrase for the first time and spotlighted a photograph of Googie's Coffee Shop.

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Once located at 8100 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, Googie's Coffee Shop was a quaint eatery designed by Lautner in 1949 (years before earning his license in 1952).

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The article was accompanied by commentary from critic Douglas Haskell. As a result, Lautner became associated with a style of architecture known as "Googie," (cantilevered structures, upswept rooflines, and Space Age imagery).

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At the time, businesses faced a challenge: consumers stopped strolling sidewalks and looking into storefronts. Instead, they sped by in cars. To grab attention, businesses needed bold, flashy, and eye-catching architecture that stood out from a block away. It also had to reflect the era’s futuristic, space-inspired style.

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Although the Googie architectural style is arguably his most widely known contribution, there's evidence that Lautner was not entirely pleased with being defined by it.

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Distinctive for its expansive glass walls, arresting form, and motifs such as rockets, amoebas, boomerangs, chevrons, starbursts, and atomic models, not to mention bold geometric shapes, angles, and colors, Googie became a fixture in 1950s America (here are almost four dozen examples).

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It's understandable why the style was regularly ridiculed by the architectural community. Lautner's reputation suffered.

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Critics? Who needs them?

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I'm not suggesting we dismiss constructive criticism, but let's not give weight to naysayers.

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Lautner practiced for over 50 years, designing more than 200 buildings after the coffee shop, including the Turner House, just outside of Aspen, which I think was one of his last designs. He was named Olympic Architect for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Upon his death, his protégé Helena Arahuete took over the firm, which continues today.

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We should all be ridiculed.

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Innovation and creativity, as well as mediocrity and redundancy, along with anything in between, can spark criticism.

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Find your unique strengths and leave a meaningful impact by staying true to them.

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And have fun doing it.

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Go forth and design boldly,

Steve Mickley, Executive Director

Email: steve.mickley@AIBD.org​

Let's chat: AIBD.org/meetsteve​

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P.S. - I discovered a fascinating video (00:14:46) that brings a demolished coffee shop back to life using Lautner's original drawings. The video offers a virtual tour, showcasing the building's interior, exterior, and overall structure in stunning detail.