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Saturday, July 28, 2012

"Festive Federalism" at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics

photo credit: sussmanprejza.com






















"Festive Federalism" is the term coined by designer Deborah Sussman to describe the colors, design, and graphics her firm developed for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

photo credit: sussmanprejza.com















Twenty-eight years ago, the eyes of the world were on Los Angeles, host of the Olympic Games. The design firm of Sussman/Prejza, working in partnership with architectural firm The Jerde Partnership, created a unique, bold look that helped bring together the city like never before - and never since. 

photo credit: www.wallpaper.com
















Above: outside the Los Angeles Memorial Collisium. Last week I shared some thoughts of being in the city for the 1984 Olympics (here's a link to that post). 


photo credit: www.la84foundation.org






















What absolutely impressed almost everyone in Los Angeles - as well as across the country and around the world - were the colors and inovative designs of of the 28 different Olympic venues. Actuallly, looking at the images off the designers' websites, they still impress. 

photo credit: sussmanprejza.com
According to the Sussman/Prejza website: "Sussman/Prejza and The Jerde Partnership were co-design directors in creating the ‘look’ of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, a massive undertaking that encompassed forty-three art sites, twenty-eight game venues and three villages. 

photo credit: jerde.com

































"The designers worked together to create a “kit-of-parts” visual alphabet that could be adapted with flair to the disparate venues. 


photo credit: www.la84foundation.org




















"Hot graphic colors, iconic geometries, and ephemeral materials were fused together to transform the city of Los Angeles.

                                      photo credit: sussmanprejza.com

"As a matter of practicality, S/P’s design also included a wayfinding and identification system that directed spectators from the highways to their seats. 



photo credit: www.la84foundation.org























"This system included vehicular and pedestrian wayfinding signs, transportation signs, facility identification signs, and graphics."
photo credit: sussmanprejza.com

From another site, ginormus.blogspot.com: "Festive Federalism, a term coined to reflect the graphics program for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, is reflected here in the color palette and an image of one of the many dimensional stars located throughout the city. 

   photo credit: jerde.com



"This was where we all heard the word Sonotube for the first time!"

photo credit: jerde.com

















Here's what Michael Bierut from observatory.designobserver.com had to say: "Trust Los Angeles to finally understand how to stage a modern Olympics: design it to be seen on television. 

www.la84foundation.org























"So out with the costly white elephants of permanent venues built of steel and concrete: Deborah Sussman and Jon Jerde, working on a tight schedule and a tighter budget, led a team of designers that created one of the most cohesive Olympic design schemes ever.





















photo credit: sussmanprejza.com
































"It was all Hollywood stagecraft, including fabric banners, painted cardboard shipping tubes and what was reportedly all the aluminum scaffolding west of the Mississippi.

photo credit: sussmanprejza.com


"The dazzling color scheme of the 1984 LA games, which Sussman dubbed "festive Federalism" was purportedly based on the hot pinks and oranges of Southern California and Baja Mexico, but looked to American designers like a hyped-up reiteration of the prevailing West Coast design aesthetic led by Michael Vanderbyl and April Greiman. And why not? It was the ultimate California moment.

photo credit: sussmanprejza.com
"Sussman's brilliant success had a not-so-brilliant aftermath, as dozens of designers, developers, and local Chambers of Commerce burghers realized that they had been delivered a formula for civic identity on the cheap. This led to a "festive" profusion of garish banners and over-decorated wayfinding systems in every down-on-its-luck shopping mall and town square in America, all of whom hung the crepe and waited for a Hollywood close up that would never come."


photo credit: sussmanprejza.com


Design firm Sussman/Prejza and architectual fim The Jerde Partnership have gone on to create numerous other projects - both in Los Angeles and around the world. A reminder that Los Angeles' cultural impact isn't just limited to television and movies. 


photo credit: www.la84foundation.org














Los Angeles, Tokyo, New York, Paris, Beijing, London. Great cities do great things. Things like host the Olympic Games. By the way, I'm sure New York City would like to add the Oympics to their city's list of impressive accomplishments. 


photo credit: www.la84foundation.org


























Here's hoping that Sussman/Prejza and The Jerde Partnership will be called upon again when Los Angeles hosts the Olympic Games for a possible third time


Below, a final image from the Olympic Tower in Los Angeles, 1984: 

photo credit: sussmanprejza.com









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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Los Angeles' Moment: the 1984 Summer Olympics


photo credit: ginormus.blogspot.com

Every four years, I'm reminded of that very special summer in 1984 when Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympic Games. For anyone who was here at that time, it was an incredible experience, arguably the best two weeks in the city's history. 

And it almost didn't happen. 

photo credit: www.sccog.org

Los Angeles had hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 (above), introducing the first ever Olympic Village, limiting the events to just 16 days, and - for the first time ever - finishing in the black financially.

photo credit: Rich Clarkson  richclarkson.photoshelter.com

Fifty two years later, the eyes of the world would again be on Los Angeles.

As hard as it might be to envision today, by the late 1970's, the Olympics had fallen on hard times:

laneuronaperdidacapsula100aos.blogspot.com

Mexico City 1968 saw government troops opening fire and killing 300 student demonstrators ten days before the opening ceremonies.

en.wikipedia.org

Munich 1972 was marred by the tragic murder of 11 Israeli athletes by terrorists.

www.rankopedia.com

Montreal 1976 nearly bankrupt the city on costly infrastructure.

The whole concept of the modern Olympic Games was being called into question. By the time the International Olympic Committee met in May of 1978 to decide who would host the 1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles was the only city in the world willing to host them. 

Could Los Angeles save the modern Olympic Games?

For the first time ever, a private corporation - the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee - would oversee and be responsible for financing the Olympics. The existing stadium and infrastructure would be used. Los Angeles proved it could be done.

photo credit: www.time.com

Peter Ueberroth, who would become Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" pulled off an incredible event, costing the tax-payers of Los Angeles nothing, and making an unheard of $215 million profit - the majority of which endowed inner city sports programs in the city.

photo credit: Joe Payne  freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Tickets for the opening ceremonies went on sale almost two years ahead of time with prices pegged at $50, $100, $200 - which seemed pricey at the time. Lack of vision (and a very tight budget as a college student) kept me from considering buying a couple of tickets. By the day of the opening ceremonies, people were offering $1500 for tickets - if they could find them. I - along with everyone else I knew - simply enjoyed the event a few miles away on TV.

photo credit: Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times

The opening ceremonies were nothing less than amazing. From the opening "Welcome" song, to the "Rocketman" flying across the stadium, to the dozens of pianos playing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," to the flags of the nations card show, to composer John Williams stirring Olympic theme ... it was incredible and primarily staffed by volunteers. (In contrast, 75% of those who participated in the opening ceremonies four years ago in Beijing were members of the Chinese military. It was said that in terms of "precision" only North Korea could have done a better job than China.)

Unfortunately, thanks to Cold War politics, the Soviet Union and their Eastern European allies decided to stayed home. What can we say? Their loss.

photo credit: www.fastcompany.com 

What no one in Los Angeles could miss was the dazzling color scheme, dubbed by designer Deborah Sussman as "festive Federalism." 

photo credit: www.fastcompany.com

It was fantastic just walking around the different venues.



photo credit: www.fastcompany.com

I love what Michael Bierut said on observatory.designobserver.com "Trust Los Angeles to finally understand how to stage a modern Olympics: design it to be seen on television. 

photo credit: www.jerde.com  

"So out with the costly white elephants of permanent venues built of steel and concrete: Deborah Susman and Jon Jerde, working on a tight schedule and a tighter budget, led a team of designers that created one of the most cohesive Olympic design schemes ever. 

photo credit: www.gamesbids.com

"It was all Hollywood stagecraft, including fabric banners, painted cardboard shipping tubes and what was reportedly all the aluminum scaffolding west of the Mississippi.

photo credit: www.3pointD.com

"Dubbed 'festive Federalism' [it] was purportedly based on the hot pinks and oranges of Southern California  . . . . And why not? It was the ultimate California moment."


Here's a link to more 'festive Federalism' photos I posted.

Festive Federalism at the Forum: this the only personal photo I have from the Los Angeles Olympics: my sister and me in front of the basketball venue at the Forum in Inglewood. Unfortunately, all my other photos from that summer are lost (stolen when I was living out-of-state, actually). 

photo credit: forums.tvland.com

Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in both 1932 and 1984. Like London, I hope they're able to host the Games a third time. Why not twenty years from now - in 2032? 

photo credit: i.telegraph.co.uk

Which would be the 100th anniversary of the the first time the city served as host. 

Like 1984, I'm sure the city can figure out a way to deal with the traffic. 

And the summer weather forecast twenty years from now calls for 72 degrees, sunny skies, low humidity, and a light breeze coming in off the ocean. 

So why not?

Here's a link to a second post on the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, with additional photos and information. 

© 2012 www.experiencingla.com - originally posted 8/14/2008, 7/28/2009