<p style="text-align: left">AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT
J. Lauer – 1302 – 207 # 13622
PHILIP ROBINSON
12/15/2012</p>
<p style="text-align: center">I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE TOO</p>
When professor Lauer mentioned the Norman Bel Geddes exhibit “I Have Seen the Future” as an optional assignment possibility, I remembered hearing the name before in some of my drafting classes. I remembered him work being well advanced for his time and quite modern. Upon walking through heavy iron and glass doors of the Harry Ransom Center, my recollections were both confirmed and blown away in how little they encompassed the genius on exhibit. The vision and depth of his talent must be seen firsthand to be fully appreciated. The genius in innovative thought and design that his work demonstrates is second to none, and should be required study for anyone in any of the design fields that his work covers.

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The Exhibit is broken down into five sections. “Setting the Stage: 1916 - 1927,” covers the beginnings of his career as a professional; with his innovative work in set design. “Industrious Design: 1927 - 1937,” takes the experience from the stage to interior design and architecture in private and commercial applications. His Book Horizons(1932), makes streamlining popular. “A Bigger World: 1937 - 1945,” looks at decentralization of the landscape in reshaping America. “Futurama: 1939 - 1940,” showcases his modern urban planning, and his futuristic modeling and puts them on display the New York World’s Fair. “Total Living: 1945 - 1958,” demonstrates the level of influence his work has had on every aspect of design in America that his talents reached. The show is running through January 6th at 300 w. 21st Street in Austin.

Most folks that have heard of the man are familiar with the futuristic cars and boats that he has designed. What I found that was most impressive was his omni directional view of what we could do if we put our minds to the task. What follows is my understanding and enlightenment in what it means to think as broadly as Norman Bel Geddes. Most of us are familiar with artistic expressions that utilize a stage as the location for expressing our vision to the masses. What better way to reach the audience with your message than to enhance the experience than with innovative stage and costume design. Taking what is normally a blank canvas and altering the scenery of the stage with back drop scenery and movable set pieces was normal; Geddes transformed the physical stage and the costumes into other worldly beings to immerse the audience unlike anyone of the time. Theatrical performances today owe a great deal to the innovative mind of Norman Bel Geddes.
The brilliance that Geddes was able to display in the world of the stage was not limited to the stage. He continued this creative process to an awe inspiring view of what society would be like in the future. His modern vision of streamlined and futuristic residential and commercial architecture can still be seen almost one hundred years later. Interstate travel, decentralized city planning, and an aesthetically pleasing core belief, were pillars of what would become the future, not only in the world fair model, but in the world of tomorrow.

To say that Geddes was a creator of worlds is not all that farfetched. Good writers create worlds that include everything from facial tics to landscapes and languages to spacecraft. Geddes and those he worked with designed and created everything from everyday items, to furniture, to homes and hotels and high rises, to massively large and luxuriant vehicles for travel. Throughout his career, Geddes thought outside of the box, disregarded the thought of impossible, and showed all of us what we could do if we set our minds to the task.