January 11, 2009 – An exhibition in River North of drawings from the mid-20th Century, a period known for futuristic designs, includes at least one design by Marina City architect Bertrand Goldberg.

Future Perfect: Mid-Century Modern Design Drawings, running until March 28 at ArchiTech Gallery, features industrial and architectural drawings from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s. The period is described by the gallery as “the beginning of the most accelerated period in American consumerism.”

(Above) San Diego Theater in LaJolla, California, drawn in 1969 by Henry Gould. Bertrand Goldberg is the architect. (Click on image to view larger version.)

“Triggered by an explosion of affordable real estate and hopeful consumerism, manufacturers of the post-war era followed an entirely different design approach. This new philosophy of sensuous shapes envisioned furniture, lamps and radios as almost living beings that could run out to the buyers’ car.”

Goldberg, says Jameson, “created theaters, hospitals and apartment buildings that could have come from colonies on the moon.”

ArchiTech, a historically comprehensive commercial gallery of architectural art, opened in Chicago’s River North gallery district in 1998. It is located at 730 North Franklin Street, Suite 200.

 Web site: ArchiTech Gallery of Architectural Art