Script:
Listen to a conversation between two students.
W: Our design class is getting really interesting, don′t you think?
M: Yeah. I like Professor Vargas, but sometimes he goes too fast, and I feel like I′m missing something. There’s a lot we have to remember.
W: True. There are a lot of details about all the different styles.
M: Yeah, there′s Art Nouveau, and Art Deco, and Art Moderne ... I have a hard time keeping it all straight.
W: I know what you mean.
M: For example, it seems to me that Art Deco and Art Moderne are the same thing.
W: Well, there is some overlap. They were both popular in the 1930s, although Art Deco came a little before Moderne. I think Professor Vargas said Art Deco started at an exhibition in Paris in 1925.
M: So, they were about the same time. That′s one thing that gets confusing. Another thing is, they seem so similar it’s hard to see why they′re considered different styles.
W: Art Deco has more decoration than Art Moderne. Art Deco is the style you see in a lot of movie theaters and hotels that were built in the twenties and thirties. It has facades with geometric designs ... and uh ... strips of windows with decorative spandrels. Art Deco uses a lot of straight lines and slender forms. “Sleekness” is the word that comes to mind. At the time, it was considered “modernistic”.
M: But that′s what gets confusing! Doesn′t “modernistic” also apply to Art Moderne?
W: Art Moderne is simpler than Deco. It has ... uh ... things like more rounded corners. Hat roofs, and ... the walls are smooth and don’t have any decoration. It’s more streamlined than Deco. Art Moderne buildings remind me of boats. The walls are smooth, and the trim is usually stainless steel. A lot of the windows are round, kind of like the portholes on a boat.
M: Oh ... I know a building like that. It′s right here in town, on Second Avenue. It has a rounded corner and round windows. It used to be a gas station, but now it’s a restaurant. We should go there sometime.
W: Yeah, I′d like to see that. My favorite building is the Maritime Building. It’s downtown, right across from my father′s office. Its Art Deco -built in 1927—I know that from the cornerstone. You should see the lobby! It′s just beautiful. There’s a geometric pattern in the tile on the floor kind of a big circle with lots of triangles. And you should see the elevator doors. They’re gorgeous.
M: You know we should go around and look at some of these buildings.
W: Yeah, that would be fun.
M: And ... you know what else ... this is an idea Tor our project. We could take pictures of the buildings and do a slide show in class.
W: Oh, that′s a cool idea! But don’t we need to get permission to take photographs? Especially of the interior ... we need pictures of the lobby of the Maritime Building.
M: We could ask for permission. That shouldn′t be a problem. Let’s talk to Professor Vargas and see what he thinks.
W: OK. Why don′t you do that, and I’ll go down to the Maritime Building and see if there′s anyone there— like a building superintendent—who can give us permission. I’ll let you know. Why don’t we meet again on Thursday?
M: OK. Fine with me.